Together
by uzumakisunspydr
Summary: Can two shinobi have a normal vacation like the rest of us? Apparently not. And that's nothing compared to what happens afterward. Naruto and Sakura learn that any problem can be overcome, so long as they are together.Naru/Saku Please read, and enjoy
1. Chapter 1

**I'm baaaaaack! This story ties into the timeline I created in "Acceptance" so if you haven't yet, I suggest you read that first, or some little details will be like "Huh?" **

**Thanks for the support and feedback I got for "Acceptance". It was just the encouragement I needed to keep going.**

**I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. If I did I would be living in Malibu. Please read and review. Flames are fine, I love roasted marshmallows.**

**...**

Lady Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage of Konoha, watched as two of her jonin shinobi slouched into her office. Despite herself, she rolled her eyes slightly. It was hard to believe that these two were among the strongest ninja she had. Hatake Kakashi, his one eye buried in his book, silver hair sticking up wildly, was being as inscrutable as ever. Uchiha Sasuke was standing there with the slightly glazed look he always had when forced to be awake this early in the morning.

Like sensei like student, Tsunade thought wryly.

"Ok, listen up you two. You're heading out to Crescent Moon. Late last night we received a request for aid from them. Yesterday there was an earthquake off the coast and a massive tsunami hit the island. I'm sending a team of medics and a few gennin teams to help with cleanup. You two are going with them.

Kakashi stopped reading. Sasuke seemed to come awake all at once. She now had both of their undivided attentions.

"Crescent Moon?" Sasuke asked slowly. "What aren't you telling us?"

"Naruto and Sakura are there," said Kakashi. " You're worried."

That last wasn't a question. Kakashi was perceptive as usual. Tsunade finally gave into the anxiety she had been feeling since she had read the message.

"According to Hikaru, the prince, they haven't been seen since the wave hit."

...

Flashback-1 week

Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura stood in front of Tsunade's desk, wondering what they had done now. Naruto glanced over at his girlfriend and raised a blond eyebrow. She just shrugged and gave him a "beats the hell out of me" look.

"Hey you two. I know it's hard, but try to pay attention to something besides each other for a minute. I pulled you away from your teams for a reason." The Hokage smirked for a minute." I have a mission that only you can do."

Naruto was starting to get a bad feeling. His mindset must have shown on his face.

Tsunade laughed. "Don't look so worried, little brother. You'll like this. You are to deliver some papers to the Damiyo of Crescent Moon Island. It should take you about two weeks. Naruto, Kiba can lead your team while you're gone. I want to know how he does with command."

Naruto visibly brightened at the assignment, but then became puzzled. "As much as I'm going to love going back the Crescent Moon, and while I'm sure Kiba, Konohamaru ,and Machi will be fine without me, why two weeks? It will only take us five or six days to get there and back. And why us?"

"Well, one, I want you to stay and wait for Michiru's answer, and two," and Tsunade smiled, "I told him you two needed a vacation ,and to take his time writing his reply."

Tsunade looked at their incredulous faces.

"Now don't forget this is a real mission in part. The papers for this treaty are very important and….Hey! Would you pay attention and knock off that jumping around!"

...

Naruto and Sakura stopped off at their homes on the Uchicha compound just long enough to pack some things. Many of their friends were out on missions, so the place was pretty quiet. Even Sasuke wasn't due back until tomorrow , so they wouldn't see him for a while.

He was going to be pissed when he found out they went on vacation without him.

Naruto went to his room in the main house and pulled out his traveling pack. Though it was barely spring here, it would be nice and warm on the island, so he could pack light. He threw some stuff together and walked through the house. Neji was in the library reading a book, and waved to him without looking up.

To his surprise, Sakura was waiting for him outside the door. "You finished packing before I did?" He clutched the door frame. "I…think…I'm…going...to …faint."

She smacked him on the arm. "Shush. I just happened to still have most of my stuff packed from my last mission."

"Or you're planning on buying a lot of new stuff while we're there, and you needed the room."

"That too."

Hinata and Tenten were sitting out on the steps to their house talking, and waved to them as he and Sakura walked past on their way out of the compound.

"Where are you two off to?" asked Tenten.

"Mission to Crescent Moon. Should take a couple of weeks." Sakura winked at Naruto.

"Crescent Moon! You guys are so lucky! I've wanted to go there ever since Lee told me about it."

Hinata looked just as put out as her friend. "We'll just have to do something about that. I wonder if we could get Kiba-kun and Neji-ni to take us there?"

Naruto and Sakura chuckled as they said goodbye to the plotting friends. Those two could be pretty determined when they put their minds to it. They had become best friends since moving in together, and their personalities were sometimes a little too in sync. Kiba and Neji would definitely be hearing about this later from their perspective girlfriends.

"You know," mused Naruto, as they headed toward the village entrance, "It **would** be a lot of fun for all of us to go somewhere together."

"Yeah it would. We should definitely do that sometime."

"But not now," he said, firmly.

"Why not?" Sakura looked up at him, questionably.

Naruto turned and looked deeply into Sakura's green eyes. Messages of love and trust that didn't need any words flashed between them. "Because, this trip is just for us."

She grinned at him, twined her fingers with his, and, hand in hand, they walked through the gates of Konoha.

...

Three days later they were walking through the busy port of Crescent Moon Island.

"Boy, this place sure looks different from the last time we were here," said Sakura, looking around her with interest.

"The people certainly look happy. Michiru must have become a good ruler."

It was the height of the tourist season, and the place was packed. The shops and restaurants lining the main thoroughfare were overflowing. Street vendors caused road blocks and trays and racks of brightly colored cloth and sparkling jewelry were everywhere. Naruto practically had to carry Sakura past some of the stores.

"Come on," said Naruto, laughing as he maneuvered her away from the window of a clothes store. "I promise we'll do some shopping later. We have to deliver these papers to the palace first. We're going to be here all week, there'll be plenty of time for me to buy you something nice."

She stopped and grinned up at him. "Really? You know I'm going to hold you to that."

"Would I lie to you?"

"Oh sure, since your favorite thing in the world is to come shopping with me."

"Hey, this is your trip. I promise, whatever you want to do, we'll do"

Sakura suddenly jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He caught her easily and swung her around, both of them giggling like children. Pedestrians around them smiled at the pair, and Sakura caught some envious looks from most of the adolescent girls around. Well, let them look. They could look all they wanted, this tall handsome man was all hers.

In the heat, he had opted to wear only his knee length black and orange haori and a pair of loose black pants. The loose clothing showed off his well shaped body and graceful form. His long, shaggy blond hair shone in the bright sun and his impossibly blue eyes sparkled. The only thing that marred this picture was the long scar across his chest. To Sakura, it was a reminder to hold on to what was precious to you, as you never knew when it would be taken away. She had been so blind regarding this wonderful person when she was young. Never again.

"What did I do to deserve you?" Sakura said as he let her down.

"Just lucky I guess."

She kissed him, not caring about the audience. It wasn't often that they could forget about being the living weapons that they were for awhile, and just be themselves.

They continued their pleasant walk across the island, through cool forest, to the palace. The guard at the gate hailed them and asked for identification. Looking over their passports, than letting his eyes travel up to their Leaf insignias, the guard smiled and gestured them through.

"Go on in, they've been expecting you."

"Thank you."

They were walking towards the palace when excited yelling made them turn.

"Naruto! Sakura!"

A tall, black haired youth was running across the courtyard towards them. Dressed in a simple tunic and pants, the only thing to distinguish him from the boy Naruto had known were the black wire rim glasses framing his dark eyes.

"Hikaru? Jeez have you gotten big." The kid must have been about sixteen now.

Hikaru puffed up to them, grinning. "So have you, you're a giant! You're almost as tall as Father now!" The young man laughed as he embraced first Naruto, then Sakura. " It's so great to see you guys again! How is Lee-san? It's a shame he couldn't come too."

"He was leaving on another mission, but he told us to tell you hi. Actually, he said a lot more than that, but it was all loud and fast and something about youth and I can't remember it exactly." Naruto shrugged. "He's Lee, what're you going to do?"

He smiled as Hikaru laughed uproariously. This definitely was not the same moody kid Naruto had first pledged friendship to. Suddenly he almost pitched forward as something made a chuffing sound and shoved into the back of his legs. He turned around and looked into the green eyes of a huge gray saber-toothed tiger.

"Hey Chamu. You still looking after this kid?" The tiger chuffed again and rubbed his massive head against Naruto's leg. Naruto started scratching around the cat's ruff and he rumbled in pleasure. Sakura came over and scratched him too, and the rumbling rose in volume. The fur around the tiger's muzzle was starting to whiten slightly, the huge teeth yellowing, but patting him was like patting a rock, he was all muscle.

"I forgot how big this guy is. I'm glad he remembers us."

"He never forgets anyone," said Hikaru. "There's this one guard that defended the palace during the coup all those years ago. He was just doing his job and didn't really know what was going on, and we trust him and all, but Chamu remembers him and follows him around growling when he gets near me. It's kinda funny." The boy looked fondly at his large guardian.

"But anyway, you guys must be tired. Father's in a meeting right now, but he told me to show you to your cabins." Hikaru looked at them and raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Or would you like just one?"

Damn smart kids.

...

The days went by way too fast. Naruto was enjoying himself immensely. It didn't matter what they did, as long as they took their time doing it. A leisurely pace was something Naruto had learned to love. Back home there were always missions, training, more training, and drama going on all the time. Here, he and Sakura could lay in bed as long as they wanted. They could take a whole day to just walk together. They went swimming, they had dinner in a different place every night. They shopped.

Oh boy, did they shop.

But he was even enjoying that because it made Sakura happy. He had made it his second life's mission to make Sakura happy, and keep her happy. As ninja, with the very nature of the job, he sometimes had to go to extraordinary lengths to accomplish this, but it was always worth it.

So they shopped, and he didn't even have to pretend not to be bored. Especially the time she spent trying on new swimsuits.

And now, lying on this small beach Hikaru had told him about, with Sakura wearing the red and white two piece she had picked out, he could call that time well spent.

This beach was only used by some of the noble families and the palace, and it was practically deserted compared to the tourist beaches. There were a few women with small children and a small group of older children playing in the surf, and the two of them. They had spread their towels in the sun and were going to return to Konoha in a few days with a nice tan. Sakura's hand was in his, children were laughing, and he didn't have anywhere else he had to be today. Life was good.

Naruto was digging his shoulder blades deeper into the soft warm sand beneath him when he felt a tremor in the earth. It was so slight that for a moment he doubted he felt it at all. He sat up and looked around. No one else on the beach was reacting as if they had felt anything. Sakura opened her eyes and looked at him curiously.

"What's wrong?"

"Did you feel anything just now?"

"Like… what exactly?"

"Like an earthquake."

"Ah. Well these islands are volcanic. I bet there are a lot of small earthquakes here."

"Oh. Alright then." He lay back down and tried to get comfortable again. The feeling that something was off wouldn't go away however. If anything, it was getting stronger. He sat up again.

Then, all hell broke loose.

The earth began to heave and shake like a terrier with a rat. It lasted for about 30 seconds before subsiding. Sakura was sitting up clutching his arm. She looked at him, wide eyed.

"I felt _that_!"

They started to get up when the aftershock hit and threw them back off their feet. It seemed stronger than the initial quake. Naruto could hear trees falling in the forest behind him and rocks tumbling off the breakwater at the end of the beach. Over this he could hear children screaming in fear. When it was over, and the earth still again, the two shinobi got shakily to their feet.

"I'm glad that's over," Naruto said, checking to make sure everyone nearby seemed all right. "These people seem to be fine. We should head to the palace or into town to see if anyone needs help….."

"Naruto."

Naruto stopped speaking and looked at his partner, not liking the sound of her voice. She was staring at the water. "What?"

"Look."

The water was being sucked out of the cove as if through a giant straw. A white line was forming out to sea and seemed to be growing every second.

Tsunami.

"Damn, that can't be good! We need to get these people to high ground, fast!"

"Naruto, I don't thing we have that much time."

She was right. With his keener than average hearing, he was becoming aware of a distant roaring sound. This thing was coming too fast for these people to run for it. He racked his brain.

"Trees! We're going to have to get them into some big sturdy trees. The strongest we can find nearby that weren't damaged by the quake. You get the moms and little kids, I'll get the group of kids up the beach. Here," and a clone poofed into existence. " You, go help her."

"Right."

Naruto turned and flashed up the beach. The children were standing around pointing out to sea, uncertain of what to do. There were five of them of various ages. They probably belonged to some of the noble houses and palace staff.

Naruto put on his most cheerful face as he came up to them. "Hi guys. I see you noticed that wave out there."

A twelve year old girl who seemed to be the leader of the group looked him up and down. "Is that a tsunami, mister?"

He crouched down to their level. "Yeah, it is, and it means big trouble. Can I get you guys to trust me, we need to move fast."

"You're one of those ninja, aren't you?" asked the girl. "I heard Hikaru-sama talking about you. We'll do whatever you say."

"Thank you. The first thing we need to do is…find a tree." He quickly led them into the forest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura doing the same with her group. About 20 feet in, Naruto found what he was looking for, a massive tree with a wide, thick trunk.

"Ok here we go. You older ones start climbing. I'll take the youngest up, then come back for you." He scooped up the smallest child, a girl of about 7. Naruto started channeling chakra into his feet and started running up the tree. About 30 feet up he found a wide seat where several large branches had grown together. Perfect. He set the little girl down in a depression and grinned at her." I'm going to get your friends ,OK. Don't move around too much."

The child smiled shyly up at him. "Ok."

He swung himself down off the branch and vaulted down the tree to where the rest were. Judging by their progress, these kids were no strangers to climbing trees. He grabbed the next smallest and dashed up to deposit him with the girl. On his third trip he took time to peer through the trees. The wave was coming across the cove at blistering speed, its crest now about ten feet high. He was out of time. He dropped down, grabbed the last two kids, tucked them under his arms and pounded up the tree, scattering chips of bark behind him. He got to the branch where the others were and looked for Sakura.

She and her charges were in a large tree about sixty feet away. She had secured a couple of the women with small babies with beach towels. His clone had anchored himself to a large branch and was holding two small children. Naruto waved and caught Sakura's attention and started talking to her in hand signs.

"_Ready_?"

"_Think so. You_?"

"_Yes. Here it comes_!"

Naruto heard the surge of water before he saw it. It crashed into the beach and kept coming. Smaller trees were ripped out or knocked down as the wave rushed through the forest. Naruto crouched down and encircled the children with his arms, locking the bottoms of his feet and palms of his hands to the tree with chakra. "You kids hold on!"

Their tree shuddered violently when the wave hit, but stayed standing. Naruto sighed with relief.

Screaming nearby made him look up just in time to see a tree next to Sakura's snap in half with a report like a cannon. The treetop crashed into it, jarring its occupants and shaking a young woman's grip loose. She slid down the tree into the foaming water, Sakura chasing right after her. His clone looked on helplessly, unable to drop his precious burden.

"Sakura! Dammit! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Stay with and protect these kids until help comes!" he barked at the clone that materialized.

Nartuo crouched, gauged the distance, channeled chakra into his leg muscles and launched himself through the trees. He bounced off one tree, swung from a limb further down, and smashed into the trunk of Sakura's tree on all fours, knocking off huge chunks of bark with the force of his landing. He realized the water wasn't running inland anymore, that the back surge had started. Sakura had her arms around the terrified young woman, eyes tightly shut holding onto the tree with her prodigious strength, fighting the backwards pull of the water. He slid and shimmied down the tree until he could grab on to the woman's arm.

Sakura's eyes flew open. "Naruto! Grab her!"

He could see the muscles in her arms shaking under the constant strain. "It's alright, just hold on."

He pulled the young woman from Sakura's grasp and drug her up against his chest. "Put your arms around my neck." The woman shakily complied and he began to walk hand over foot up the tree. He deposited her on a wide branch near the others and started back down to help his partner. Just as he neared the water line, the tree shook wildly. A large tree trunk had smashed into the opposite side. Naruto gripped with his fingers and toes until the shuddering stopped. He started down again than stopped, horrified. Two pieces of bare wood was all that met his eyes. The bark where she had been holding on had come loose in the collision.

He looked around frantically, scanning the water. There. A dot of pink, already far away. He looked back at the civilians. He couldn't just leave them. Then he saw both of his clones gesturing to him in basic hand signals.

"_Go_!"

"_Fine here_."

He didn't think then, he just reacted. He pulled himself onto a branch, stood up, ran down its length, and in a flat racing dive, entered the water.

...

**It is so nice to be able to get these stories out of the mad jumble that is my brain.**

**Next chap. will be up soon. Please tell me what you think of it so far.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ah, the holidays. Can't live with them, can't get away from them. Now that the nonsense is over, I can get back to this. Whew!**

**I don't own Naruto, just all the books, some DVD's , a calendar, and a few plushies.**

**Please review, I need the flames to heat my house.**

**...**

Together Ch. 2

Sore, gritty blue eyes opened to a close up view of…sand. Naruto blinked a few times and lifted his head to look blearily around him. He lay just above the waterline of a small beach on what looked like part of a wooden fence. He could feel the waves lapping gently against his feet. Pristine white sand covered in various debris gave way to tree line about 20 feet above him.

Where the hell was he? The wave had dropped him off somewhere, he just had no idea exactly where.

First things first. He wouldn't accomplish anything just laying here. He slowly rolled over and sat up, doing a self check at the same time. Well, he felt how he probably looked, namely half drowned and like he had been attacked by a giant piece of sandpaper. Those marks were already fading, so he must have been out for awhile. The muscles in his arms and legs were stiff from the fight with the current. It had taken all of his strength to keep his and Sakura's heads above the debris choked water.

Sakura!

Naruto shot to his feet, stiffness forgotten, and looked around frantically. She was nowhere in sight. He had caught up after diving in after her, and they had clung together, fighting to stay afloat. The water had been moving too fast and erratically for them to climb onto the surface. Then at one point what looked like an entire treetop had crashed into them, forcing each other apart and causing Naruto to slam into something hard, he wasn't entirely sure what. He had barely clung to enough consciousness after the impact to climb onto a flat piece of wood, and had completely lost track of his partner.

It took all of his training not to start rushing around, screaming her name like an idiot_._

_Unknown territory is possible enemy territory. _

That was a lesson drilled into them at the academy. He had no idea where he was. He could have been washed all the way to Kirigakure for all he knew. There were more than a few Mist shinobi who would love to find a half naked, unarmed, Uzumaki Naruto washed up on their doorstep. He forced himself to calm down. First, he needed to get into some cover. For a Konoha shinobi, that meant into the trees. He also didn't want a line of footprints pointing his existence out to anyone.

Looking around, he saw an outcrop of black rock protruding from the sand a short distance up the beach. From there it would be a easy leap into the branches. He easily cleared the 15 or so feet to the rocks, and looked around again. The tide was coming in and would soon obliterate the marks in the sand where he had been sitting and standing. There were so many other large pieces of flotsam around that it wouldn't be readily apparent that that particular piece of fencing had had a passenger. Soon it would look like no one had been here at all. Satisfied with that, he leapt up and out, snagging the lower branches of the closest tree. He pulled himself up onto the limb without stirring a leaf and padded up the branch until he could sit against the trunk, more comfortable now that he wasn't out in the open. He had to think for a bit.

He was in an interesting situation. All he had on him were a pair of rather brightly colored swim trunks and, by some miracle, his necklaces. Not only had his crystal stayed with him but, much too his relief, his seal that limited the Kyuubi's connection with him. But that was it. He didn't have a shuriken to his name, much less his beloved tanto, which was hanging on a chair in his room at the palace. All he had was his chakra and his wits. It was a little like having that dream of showing up to school naked. And about as much fun.

The first thing he wanted to do was get the lay of the land and see if he could figure out where he was. He knew there were plenty of small islands around Crescent Moon, and he was praying that he had washed up on one of those.

And while he was praying, that Sakura had made it too.

Naruto got up and began moving through the trees to what looked like a dense part of forest. He made no sound except for the slight slap of his bare feet, perfectly at home in the branches. As the trees got taller, he began to move upward, until, several minutes later, his head popped above the canopy, and he could survey his surroundings.

Well, he was definitely on a island.

He was on a slightly circular island about ten miles across. It was flat and covered almost completely in dense forest. Looking out to sea, he could see several small islands in the near distance, but no mass big enough to be Crescent Moon. If he was at all near, he would have seen the summit of the mountain on the horizon at the very least. He sighed.

" Oh well. It wasn't what I hoped for, but it isn't Kiri either. That's something."

This island was ringed by a prominent reef, which explained why there wasn't much damage by the tsunami. There was obvious wreckage only on the side he had come ashore on, so he actually knew what direction he needed to go. The problem was there seemed to be a lot of open water between him and his destination. It was going to be too far to walk. Walking on the ocean was harder and took a lot more concentration than other bodies of water, due to the currents and wave action. Even he would get tired, and he still didn't know how far away he was.

That could wait though. He had some coastline to search. He couldn't leave this island until he was one hundred percent sure that Sakura wasn't on it. She was his top priority. While he knew better than most that she could take care of herself, he just couldn't help his overprotective streak. He had lost so many people in his life, he just couldn't stop hovering. Naruto shuddered. The thought of losing her left him numb.

He was cursing his overactive imagination when something caught his eye. A plume of smoke was rising from the edge of the forest on the far side of the island.

"Ok, change of plans." That's where he was going to head first. Naruto didn't know what kind of habitation it was( or if it even was one), but he could learn more from other people than wandering around talking to himself, be it friend or foe. And, if it was a camp, there was always the chance it was Sakura.

Moving out, he kept high in the canopy, keeping an eye on his destination. After about fifteen minutes travel, he started to see the point of a high roof poke above the trees. A few more minutes and he was there. There was a large clearing surrounding a small collection of buildings, and he stopped well back from the edge. There were four of five building surrounding the tallest one, which was shaped like a temple or small pagoda. From where he was he could see several people scattered about the compound. A few were weeding a small garden. He could hear the dull "thunk" of their hoes as they moved down the rows. They worked silently, but he could hear the murmur of voices coming from just out of his sight near the main building. The people he could see were all wearing plain, similarly cut clothing in dull earth tones. Maybe they were some sort of religious order ,or something.

He wanted to go down, talk to them, ask them if they've seen a young woman in a bikini, but he didn't. He hadn't lived as long as he had without listening to at least some of the little voices in his head, and they were telling him that revealing himself would somehow be a bad idea.

Naruto decided to go down and scout out a bit, try to listen in on a few conversations first. See just who these people were. He was about to step off his branch when he glanced down at himself. "This isn't exactly recommended spying attire," he thought wryly. Sakura had bought him this pair of swim trunks, which were a lurid orange and blue. They could probably be seen from five miles away. That combined with his blond hair, which he usually kept hooded when scouting, and his complexion, which was still pale after the short Konoha winter, meant he stuck out like a sore thumb. Sighing, he turned around and backtracked to a steam he remembered going over. He found a patch of dark, moist, clean earth( he wanted to look like a swamp, not smell like one), and started rubbing it all over himself, paying close attention to the shorts and the hair. When he was an interesting shade of green-brown all over, he started back towards the settlement. In an instant he was in stealth mode, somehow lowering his long frame until he disappeared into the undergrowth. Soon, he came back up to the very edge of the clearing, and stopped.

Naruto could still hear the voices coming from the temple-thing, and decided that that would be a good place to start. No one was near, or even looking this way. In one liquid motion, Naruto bunched and leapt onto the roof of a nearby shed, where he crouched for a moment, listening, until continuing to his target building. He stayed low as he circled the structure, his chest almost brushing the slates. It always amazed everyone that one of the tallest of the Twelve was one of the best spies. Only Choji was taller than he was, but not by much. Naruto could contort his lanky frame into the smallest places, and could move completely silently when he wanted to. He had once scared the living daylights out of Tsunade by sneaking up on her in her own home. He had spent the rest of the day running, than apologizing. The funny thing was, he hadn't even really been trying. That time, anyways.

He found a row of small windows near the peak of the building and crept inside. He dropped to the floor and froze for a long moment. When no alert went up, he cautiously moved further in. He found himself on a balcony of sorts above a large room. It was definitely a meeting room, or worship room of some sort. It had a plain wood floor, with rush and bamboo mats arranged in rows before a low platform. He wanted to have a good view of the goings on, but didn't know whether this balcony would be in use. Then he noticed some deep shadows in the corners created by the vaulted ceiling and its supports.

In one way or another, shinobi regularly take advantage of the fact the people not used to the habits of ninja rarely look up when surveying a room. After all, it's impossible for people to walk upside-down, right?

Naruto slinked across the ceiling and backed into a particularly dark spot toward what he presumed to be the back of the room, opposite the raised platform. He had excellent chakra control now, and, with his stamina, could hang like this almost indefinitely. He had done this often. As much as he disliked it, his skills made him an excellent assassin, and for many of his targets, the last thing they ever did was look up.

Naruto heard talking outside the main door, but the voices were too low and indistinct for him to make out words. The acoustics in this place were messing with him. After several minutes, he was about to give this plan up as a bad job all around, when a gong somewhere outside began to boom. Soon, people began to file in and find places on the mats. When the place was fairly full of drably dressed people, a similarly drably dressed man ascended the platform and began the service. Naruto half listened while studying the assembly. Never being a particularly religious person, the people held more interest to him than the sermon. Besides, to him it sounded like a pretty straightforward "praise Kami" sort of religion. That is, until the sermon began to heat up.

"…..and protect us from the powers of the impure. Keep our island safe from the unnatural powers of the demons in human form. Let our brothers and sisters on the mainland come to realize how the chakra users cloud their minds…"

Naruto suddenly didn't like where this was going.

"…..when our ancestors fled from a war in which demon fought demon and came to settle in peace on this island."

Naruto started to swear to himself. Who knows how many islands scattered across the area between Crescent Moon and the mainland, and he lands on the one where the people think all ninja are demons. He was going to need a vacation from his vacation.

...

Naruto waited until the service was over and the temple deserted before making for the balcony and window he had entered by. He was kind of at a loss of what to do now. He still needed to find Sakura, but he had to do it while keeping out of the way of these people. He couldn't very well fight them for their beliefs. From what he understood, they had come from a village destroyed in the Third Ninja War and now considered all chakra use as evil. Knowing how war was, he supposed he couldn't blame them.

He was also a little concerned about what they would do if they came face to face with a real live shinobi. If most of this generation had never actually seen a ninja, and had only listened to the stories of their elders, he would be little more than a bogy man to them. He probably wouldn't be able to hide what he was from them. Like it or not, he lived for battle, and it showed in his demeanor and on his body. The long scar across his chest could only have come from a katana, and the circular scars on his shoulder and back looked like exactly what they were. Where a hand had punched completely through his body when he was thirteen. That scar was the reason he rarely took his shirt off around his brother. He hated to see Sasuke wince every time he did.

Naruto decided to hide up on the roof and wait for sundown before scouting out the rest of the compound. It had just occurred to him that maybe they had already found Sakura, and he wanted to make sure she wasn't being detained anywhere. There was one thing he could do while sitting up here though. Since these people obviously didn't use chakra in any way, it should be pretty safe. He closed his eyes and began to flare his chakra. Many ninja did this to call or alert their comrades. Naruto rarely did, because when he did it, he was visible to any shinobi within thirty miles. It was like having a neon sign hanging over his head. In this instance, that was exactly what he wanted. If Sakura was anywhere on this island, provided she was conscious, she would know he was here and hopefully respond. The plus side with him being this high up was that she could probably see him from some of the neighboring islands as well. He kept his output of chakra in the range where another powerful shinobi could sense, but not in the visible spectrum. He could actually flare his chakra to almost blinding levels, and he really didn't want to do a lighthouse impression up here.

After several minutes of this, with no response he could see, he was a bit discouraged. He told himself it didn't mean anything, just that she was out of range. So he sat impatiently until the sun went below the horizon and the small community began to drift indoors. When the compound was silent, he slowly crept out and began exploring the settlement.

He avoided the buildings that were obvious residences for now and concentrated on the more official looking ones. Especially one small one with thin slit windows and thick walls. It reminded him of a prison a little too much. Granted, when you had a community of any size, there's bound to be some trouble makers who need to cool their heels a bit, but Naruto was thinking of the sermon he had heard. What better place to put a "demon chakra user" after she happens to wash on your shore.

Naruto moved down to the ground and began to move towards the small building, keeping to the shadows. There was only a thin sliver of moon tonight, which was perfect for him. He could see fine in the dark, but nobody would be able to see him. He made it to the door and tested the handle. It didn't seem to be trapped, or even locked for that matter. Pushing it slowly open, he cautiously stuck his head inside. There was a narrow hallway with six doors, three on either side. He walked in and pushed the door most of the way shut behind him. The doors were made of heavy wood and looked really solid. Thin slits had been left towards the top and across the bottom of each one, presumably to see the prisoner and to slide food underneath. Naruto began to peer into each small cell, moving down the hall. All the cells were empty until he came to the last one on the right. When he looked inside, he nearly choked.

Sakura lay limply on the low cot inside, pink hair disheveled, still clad in her swimsuit. Naruto tried the handle frantically, hissing her name. No response came, from within, or from the door. This one was locked. Deciding that the time for finesse was over, Naruto simply ripped the door from its frame.

"Sakura," he murmured as he kneeled next to the cot. She lay unmoving save for her breathing and the slight shudders that ran down her body. He cradled her head in his hand and brushed her hair away from her face. A large gash glowed green just above her left temple. Naruto let out his held breath in a woosh. She was in a self healing trance.

He had seen her do this once before a few years ago, and it had scared the crap out of him then too. Towards the end of a fight with Iwa, Sakura had taken a bad gut shot from a kunai. By the time he and Sasuke had found her, she had hidden herself inside a hollow log and was like this. Her wound was healing, but it had been raining, and her core temperature had been dangerously low. Naruto had cradled her while Sasuke set up their tent. They had gotten her wet clothes off and bundled her into her sleeping bag. Then he and Sasuke got into the tent with her and sandwiched her in between them. She had been fine the next morning, just a little weak. They had taken turns carrying her back to Konoha.

Now, here she was, in a cold cell, in only a bikini, with no blanket or anything. She was probably close to hypothermia. His face began to contort in rage before he told himself to get a grip. Getting pissed wasn't going to solve anything at the moment. He needed to warm her up, but he also had to get her out of here. She was to out to hold onto his back and he might need his hands free. He noticed she was laying on a thin sheet, and he got an idea. Naruto gently lifted her up so that she was sitting on the edge of the cot. She muttered weakly when she felt his hands.

"Shhh love, you're all right, it's just me."

She calmed, and he sat down between her legs. He pulled her forward until she was laying propped against his back. He reached behind them and brought the corners of the sheet up and knotted them diagonally across his chest. He pulled them snug, making sure Sakura was supported underneath. She was now tied to his back, pressed up against his warm skin. Because of his metabolism and his passenger, Naruto's natural skin temperature was a little higher than most peoples. Sakura loved that on cold nights, she called him her giant hot water bottle. She stopped shivering slightly, and relaxed.

He stood up and tested the arrangement. She was secure and his hands were free, all her weight supported by his chest. He used to carry his godson, Kenkou, around like this when his parents, Shizune and Genma were busy. Now, at three, Naruto was usually running after the energetic kid rather than carrying him.

Naruto crept to the door of the cell block and eased it open. No one seemed to be about. Taking a chance, he sprinted to the treeline. Once there, he paused, listening. No shouts, no alarms. Good.

He had to find some shelter somewhere soon. He wanted to get Sakura somewhere warm and secure, and the need for sleep was catching up to him. On an island like this, it was probably too much to ask for a cave, it was too sandy. He would just have to improvise. He began to travel at a steady pace towards the far side of the island from the compound. It was his hope that when they discovered that Sakura was gone, they would assume she had escaped on her own. Knowing she was hurt, they wouldn't expect her to make it very far, and would spend a lot of time searching close in to the settlement.

He ran for about twenty minutes before he found something he might be able to use. At the edge of a small clearing, a large tree had been struck by lightning ages ago. The snag was white and weathered, with a dark opening near the top. Curious, he made sure Sakura was still secure and leapt up to a branch near the opening. Sticking his head in, he was delighted to see that the tree was hollow all the way down. Obviously nature had taken its course on the soft wood. The base of the tree was just wide enough for two people to lay comfortably. Naruto jumped back to the ground and gently untied Sakura, resting her on some soft ferns. He quickly made several clones and directed them to start gathering armfuls of soft grass and dried leaves. While they were doing that, he leapt back up to the opening.

"Katon : Gokakyuu no Jutsu"

He kept the fireball under strict control as he directed it into the hollow tree. He didn't want to burn it down, just clear out any crawling nasties that might living in it. When the smoke cleared, he let himself down into the interior of the tree. It smelled of chared wood, but it was dry and secure. He generated wind blades into the palm of his hand and blew out several small holes here and ther to let in some air. That done, it was time to make the interior more comfortable. No sooner had he thought that when grass and leaves began raining down on him.

"Hey, watch it up there!"

"Oh stop whining, a few leaves aren't going to kill you."

"Shut up, you're going to get us in trouble!"

"Like I care!"

Naruto just shook his head at the argument going on above him. There was one in every bunch of clones he created. One that acted just like he used to act at twelve. "Alright fine", he called up. "Just keep it coming."

Mulch began to rain down on him again, and he heaped it together until he had a goodly pile. He then dispelled his clones before they could bury him alive in there. He crawled up and out of the snag and leapt down next to Sakura. In the short time he had left her, she had started shivering again in the night air. Picking her up bridal style, sheet and all, he vaulted up the snag. Clutching her to his chest, he braced his back against the side and began to chimney crawl down the hollow. When he reached the bottom he kicked a depression in the soft bed and lay her in it. He covered her up in the sheet and then piled most of the mulch over her. She looked a little odd buried up to her neck in grass and leaves, but he knew that decaying vegetation put out heat. He would be joining her in a minute, but there was one more thing to do. He once again climbed out of the tree and landed lightly on the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu"

A small poof of smoke and six tiny toads looked up at him expectantly.

"Hi guys."

"Hi boss!" came the squeaky chorus.

" I need you guys to scatter and let me know if anyone comes near this tree, ok."

"Sure thing boss!"

"Leave it to us!"

Naruto grinned at them as they spread out and vanished into the undergrowth.. What they lacked in size, they made up for in enthusiasm. Gamakichi may be his main summon and battle companion, but these little guys were his ears and eyes. Some shinobi treated their summons as tools, but to him, they were friends. Gamakichi was one of his best friends, in fact. He wished he could summon him. He had a sarcastic wit that could always give perspective to any situation. Unfortunately for this situation, while not nearly as big as his father, Gamakichi was now big enough to be very noticeable. But these little toads could disappear into the landscape. They were part of the reason he had such success as a spy.

A minute later he was burrowing in next to Sakura. She shifted, muttering to herself but calmed as soon as he reassured her. He wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head beneath his chin. Suddenly the events of the day made themselves felt. He was exhausted. He didn't know what tomorrow held, but he didn't really care at the moment. All he cared about was that his friend, partner, and love was in his arms. The two of them could accomplish anything. Together.

...

tbc


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey all! Here ya go!**

**I don't own Naruto, but I did get some more DVDs**

**------------------------------------------**

A day into the trip, Kakashi was pretty sure that his partner was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

They had left Konoha in the company of two genin teams and a medic team. The relatively slow pace set by the larger group had been driving Sasuke insane. He stayed with the group, but he didn't talk to anyone and it was obvious ( to everyone who knew him) that he was frantic to get to Crescent Moon and find his small family. Luckily, during a break the medic team leader, who just happened to be Ino, noticed this and pulled Kakashi aside.

" Look, I know Tsunade-sama told you guys to travel with us, but I'm pretty sure between three jonins, five chunins, and six genins, we can find our way without you. If you go at your top speed, you should be able to make the last boat out tonight. We'll probably have to wait for one in the morning. "

Kakshi felt torn for a second, than looked at the blond kunoichi. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! They're my friends too! I'm just as worried, and you two can get to them faster and we won't have to watch Sasuke fall apart at the seams."

Kakashi wavered for a second more. Ino made a noise like a exasperated cat. "Go!" Then more softly. "Go find them."

Kakashi nodded then and trotted over to where Sasuke was sitting on a rock, twitching.

"Come on, we're going."

Sasuke shot Ino a grateful look, and they were off.

That had been this morning. Now two pairs of sandaled feet pounded across a field outside of the small port town. The day was almost over, and their shadows stretched far out behind them. They kept even, neither of them stumbling or flagging in their incredible speed. A few farmers returning home from their crops stopped and watched the two shinobi flashed past.

"Hey Sasuke! We've been at this most of the day. Want to stop and take a breather?"

"We can rest on the boat, Kakashi! Stop acting old and come on!"

Kakashi ignored the jab at his age and continued to needle his former student. "You can't be with them all the time, you know."

"I can try."

You big softy, Kakashi thought to himself. Sasuke had been more protective than ever after Naruto had almost died protecting the village from slavers the previous year. "And what happens when you can't be there? Last time I checked, those two were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves."

No response.

"What are you going to do, tag along on their honeymoon?" Kakashi asked dryly. Time to use one of the few things Sasuke responded to when he was focused. Sarcasm.

Sasuke stumbled a bit before getting his stride back and turned to glare at him. Kakashi knew that would get him. It got everyone. While most acknowledged that it was bound to happen sooner or later, and there was actually a pool going on how long it was going to take Naruto to get up the courage to ask her, it was a little hard to picture sometimes. Especially for those who had known them as genin.

Sasuke glowered at him for a few more second before tuning back around. As he did, Kakash heard him mutter," knowing those two, I might have to."

They could see the port now. They didn't slow down as they passed through the town, until they made it to the docks and purchased two tickets for the last ship of the day.

When the ship was underway, Sasuke went to the bow and watched the horizon. Kakashi knew he would stand there all night.

Sasuke had lost one family. He wasn't about to lose another.

-------------------------------

When Sakura woke up, she didn't think anything was wrong at first. Then, little questions began to trickle into her mind. Why was her bed so scratchy? And why did it smell like leaves?

Then she turned her head, and the pain made her stiffen.

_Oh, my head hurts! Why does my head hurt? _

_Wait, I know why my head hurts. _

The events of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami suddenly came rushing back. One of the last things she remembered was crashing into a reef surrounding a small island she had been trying to reach. She had let the waves carry her to the beach, barely conscious. The logical part of her brain that was still working knew she had taken a bad blow to the head, beyond that of a mere concussion. She remembered seeing people coming up the beach and had decided then and there to go into a self healing, having no choice but to trust that the people would see her and take care of her.

Sakura carefully turned her head to study her surroundings, gritting her teeth at the throbbing in her temple. At first she couldn't figure out what kind of structure she was in. It was kind of circular, and seemed to be made of very rough wood. Palm sized holes dotted the walls here and there, letting in streams of light. She rolled her eyes upward and found another hole letting in light. That the hole was so far up in the tube shaped structure just confused her more. It took her a few minutes, but then she got it. She was in a hollow tree. On a bed of what looked , under closer scrutiny, to be grass and dead leaves. That puzzle solved, but the big picture still missing a few pieces, she started to concentrate on other things.

Soft, regular breaths were puffing against her head and one warm arm was draped over her. Shifting around, she looked into Naruto's sleeping face. At first she barely recognized him, as he was covered in dirt for some reason, and seemed to have half of their crackly bedding stuck in his hair.

How had he found her? She remembered being swept away by the force of the water, fighting to keep above the debris that was around her. Suddenly he was there, supporting and protecting her with his larger body. But not long after, they had been separated by something big and dark crashing into them. She had swam to the point of exhaustion, not knowing how far she had been carried from Crescent Moon. Then the collision with the reef, the people, then nothing.

Obviously, she had missed something important while out. And the only person who could tell her about it was still asleep.

She reached out and stroked his cheek, chuckling like she always did when his face reflexively twitched and scrunched. His whisker marks were so sensitive. His breathing sped up and his eyes opened slightly. Sakura waited. It always took him a few minutes to join the rest of the world. She watched his eyes change from a stormy gray to their usual blue as he blinked a few times, looked at her, and smiled, a smile that he seemed to reserve just for her.

"Hey sleeping beauty. Welcome back." He ran a tender hand across her brow. "How's the head?"

"The head is miserable, thank you. I think I cracked my skull coming over that reef. It could have been worse though." She ran a appraising eye over what little of him she could see through the dirt. "What about you? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I was on a piece of fencing or something. Must have rode right over the worst of it. I wound up on the southeast side of this island. I spent most of the day yesterday looking for you." He wrapped his arms around her. "I'm just glad I found you when I did."

Sakura was confused at the relief in his voice. Something wasn't adding up.

"But…I remember seeing a group of people. That was why I went into a trance. Why aren't we with them?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in a familiar gesture. "Yeah, about that."

He then began to fill her in on what he learned about the inhabitants of the island and their views on certain people. And just where he had found her. Sakura just gaped at him.

"You mean?……The people…..And I just…..and they?" She buried her face in his chest. "I am such an idiot."

She felt him rumble under her as he chuckled.

"It not like you could have known. I mean, I saw them and my first impulse was to waltz right down there and start talking to them. Luckily the little voices in my head wouldn't let me. I decided to sneak around a little first and see what I could find out. I thought they were harmless until I listened in on one of their services. And hearing their reasons, I can't really blame them for thinking that way. I just want to stay as far away from them as we can until we find a way back to Crescent Moon."

Sakura noticed her brain was starting to work at the rate it usually did. "You snuck around? Is that why you're covered in mud?"

"Oh, yeah. This outfit isn't exactly my scouting gear, you know. It's just a little noticeable. I was too damn tired to rinse off last night."

Sakura began to notice certain things making her uncomfortable when he mentioned washing.

"Is there a stream or something nearby? I'm so itchy from the salt water. That, and I seem to have been snuggled up to a mud ball as I slept. I would love to wash off a bit. And I need to take care of some business. Do you think it would be safe?" She put some longing in her voice. He knew she was pretty fastidious given the choice.

Naruto got up, shedding leaves as he did. "Sure, it should be fine. We're pretty far from the settlement. I remember passing over a creek not far from here."

He helped her unbury herself and lifted her to her feet. Sakura held onto him for the support when he suddenly swept her up in a hug. " Gods, I was worried about you. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you," he whispered.

She squeezed him back, mud and all. The tone of his voice spoke volumes to her about what kind of day he had had yesterday. It was as if he needed to convince himself that she was really here, so she just let him hold her for awhile. After a few minutes, when he let her down, he tried to apologize for him being overemotional, but she silenced him with a kiss.

When they finally separated, Sakura was chagrined to find just how weak her legs really were." I'm going to be useless for a couple days until my chakra reserves recover," she said irritably.

"I know, I remember last time." He grinned at her. "Lets not make a habit of that, ok. It freaks me out."

Sakura felt her aching head. "Deal."

She wrapped her arms around his neck as he curled one long arm around her, pressing her to him. He then jumped, straining for height in the cramped space. At the top of his jump, he shot out his arm and legs and jammed himself in the hollow. Using a combination of chakra and pure strength, he climbed the rest of the way to the opening in the top of the snag. Sakura held on and tried to make herself as small as possible to help him. She could feel his muscles strain and flex, but, as usual, by time they reached the top, he wasn't even breathing hard.

Naruto cautiously poked his head out first and scanned the clearing. When he seemed convinced the coast was clear, he eased them out onto the branch. Judging by the position of the sun, it was early afternoon.

"Do you think you're strong enough to hold onto my back?"

Sakura flexed her arms. They were definitely stronger than her legs at the moment. " I think I'm up to it," she said, as he turned around to let her climb on.

"Good, 'cuz this is going to be a bumpy ride for a sec."

With that, he stood up, shook himself a little to make sure she was secure, then ran and launched himself off of the branch towards the nearest tree. Sakura felt the breeze of their passing stir her hair until, with a jolt, Naruto caught another branch with his fingertips and swung them further into the forest.

"Sorry about that. I don't know if they have anyone who can track on that compound, and I don't want to call attention to our little hideout. I don't know how long were going to need it. That, and they only seem to know about you. I don't think they know about me, and I want to keep it that way. I'm going to be keeping to the trees as much as I can." Sakura could not fault this logic, and just nodded.

Naruto continued through the trees. The gentle floating motion almost put her to sleep again, when, a moment later, he stopped. Sakura could hear the sound of a fair sized stream bellow them. Naruto lowered them to the ground, then crouched to let her off. He then pointedly turned his back as she shakily pushed her way into a clump of bushes to relieve herself. They practically lived together, slept in the same bed four nights out of five, had seen each other at their most vulnerable, and yet he still had this modest side that Sakura thought was so cute.

He was waiting when she fought her way out and took her hand with a heart melting smile. She let him lead her to a slow moving part of the stream, where the water had backed up against a row of rocks. The water was only knee deep, but it was somewhat sun warmed and felt wonderful as she sat down. Naruto left her there and headed off into the bushes for his own constitutional. Sakura started to scrub herself with handfuls of sand, getting the feel of the irritating sea salt off her skin. The water ran pink for a second when she dunked her head forward, as the she cleaned the crusted blood from her face and hair. She gingerly felt around the edges of the gash on her temple and was pleased at how it was healing. In a couple days, when she had the chakra to spare, it would only take a few minutes to finish closing it up.

Sakura looked up at the sound of Naruto splashing and laughed at her boyfriend's antics. He had flopped down in the fastest part of the stream and was letting the force of the water beat him clean. He ran his hands through his long shaggy hair, dislodging leaves and clumps of dirt. He sat up and shook his head vigorously, sending drops of water everywhere and ,not for the first time, Sakura thought he had been spending too much time with the Inuzukas again. As Kiba's captain, Naruto was officially a part of the family as far as Tsume was concerned, and he ate dinner over there often. In fact, Naruto was welcome at the homes of all their friend's families now, even the Hyuuga's. He just had that effect on people.

He got up and started over to her, and Sakura couldn't help but think of the last thing Ino had been ribbing her about. According to Ino, since she and Naruto were so solid in their relationship, Sakura was allowed to join her in looking at other guys. Personally, Sakura thought that Ino was just miffed that, out of the four kunoichi of their group, she was the only one not in a relationship with someone.

Sakura didn't really enjoy looking at other men though. But she loved to watch Naruto. He was so graceful and economic in his movements it was almost like he was dancing. She loved the way his eyes changed color when he was thinking, the way that his whole body seemed to light up when he was happy. She loved his body, he had the perfect physique for a shinobi, lithe and wiry, with perfectly sculpted and defined muscles.

The only thing that marred it was the long scar across his chest and the circular scar on his shoulder that matched its mate on his back. She had often wondered why those scars had stayed while all other wounds healed without a trace. Maybe it had something to do with how he felt about them. She knew he was rather proud of the one on his chest, even though that was a day she didn't like to think about. The day he got it, he had finally proved to the village just how far he would go to protect them, and most of them had reacted to that with the acceptance he had craved for so long.

She thought he wouldn't want to be reminded of the day he got the other ones, but they seemed to serve as a reminder to him of what he was fighting for all those years of trying to convince Sasuke to come home. Naruto knew that Sasuke could have killed him that day, but he hadn't. It seemed to remind Naruto of his brother's humanity in a way. Something happened not long after Sasuke's return that convinced her that Naruto had been right all along. About a month after the fight with Akatsuki, while both Sasuke and Naruto had been training back up after their injuries, Naruto had taken his shirt off on a hot day. He didn't say anything at the time, and Naruto hadn't even seemed to noticed, but Sakura had seen Sasuke pale a bit at the sight of the circular scars on his friend's shoulder and back. Later that night, Sakura had been surprised by a knock on her door. She had opened it to see Sasuke standing there, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

_"Sasuke? What's up? Is there something wrong?"_

_"Sakura, can I come in for a moment, please? I need to ask you something."_

_"Of course." Sakura stood aside to let him in ,having a slight idea of what this was about._

_He declined her offer of a seat and a cup of tea and had just stood for a minute, collecting his thoughts. "Those scars on Naruto. I did that, didn't I?"_

_Sakura looked at him coolly. This was a bit of a sore spot for her. "Yes, Sasuke. Yes you did."_

_"I was afraid…..My memories of that day are so twisted. The wound had healed so fast I almost believed that it had never been there. For a year after, I had almost convinced myself that that had never happened. But then the Snake had made a comment about how the Chidori worked best when you used it on someone you knew. That brought it all back." _

_Sasuke had been studying the floor the whole time he had been talking, but then he looked up, and Sakura had been shocked to see tears in the stoic Uchiha's eyes. "I almost killed him. If he hadn't blocked at the last minute, my hand would have gone right through his heart. Those scars. I did that to my best friend."_

_And with that, for probably the first time since his family's death, Uchiha Sasuke broke down crying on the floor. Sakura had knelt beside him and let him vent four years worth of pent up emotions. At some point she had scensed that some one was watching, and had looked up into Naruto's sad eyes. He was perched on the railing to her balcony. He had a strange look on his face, a mixture of sorrow and elation. Sakura knew what he was feeling. He knew he had done the right thing now, trusting for so long in Sasuke's humanity. He knew his feelings weren't one sided anymore. He felt vindicated._

" You look like you're thinking something serious over here."

Sakura jumped. Naruto looked at her quizzically.

"Sorry, just zoning. This water feels good," Sakura temporized quickly.

"Well lets see then," he laughed as he sat down next to her in the shallow water. He splayed his long legs in front of him and leaned back on one hand, as he used the other one to pull her over so she could lean up against him. "You're right, this does feel good."

They sat in comfortable silence for awhile before Sakura finally posed the question that had been in the back of her mind for a bit. "Naruto, do you think the people we left in those trees are alright?"

"They're fine. I left the clones behind and I felt them go sometime yesterday. They didn't dispel until help came."

"Oh good." Sakura was relieved. "So now what?"

Naruto looked thoughtful."Well, we have shelter, and plenty of water, but we need food. I'm thinking about going to the compound tonight and seeing what I can nick. Food and maybe some clothes. Unfortunately, we need those,and that's the only place were going to get them. I don't know about you, but I know I'll feel better in something more substantial than a bathing suit." He looked at her, his eyebrows wagging suggestively ."Not that I don't like you in that particular outfit."

She splashed him, laughing. "Is that all you can think of!" She sobered. "As much as I hate the idea of stealing, I don't see as we've got much choice. We could use one of their boats, if they have any, but neither of us knows much about sailing. Someone's bound to come looking for us eventually, but do you have any idea how many islands are in this chain? Dozens. It may take awhile before we're found."

"I know, but the longer we stay here, the more chance of some kind of conflict with the people who live here. They have to be looking for you. I thought about walking to one of the islands nearby, but we wouldn't know if there was water or shelter on it. We have a good hiding place here and we should probably just stay put."

"Sounds good to me." Sakura was feeling pretty tired again. The activity of washing had worn her out.

Naruto looked down at the weary tone in her voice. He seemed to know she was about nod off. He stood up, reached down and picked her up. "Let's head back and take a nap. I'll go out after dark." When she didn't respond, he looked down to see that she was already asleep in his arms. He smiled, kissed her on the forehead and took to the trees to take her back to their bed.

-------------------------------------

When They got off the boat, Kakashi noticed that the damage to the city of Crescent Moon was fairly minimal. The earthquake had been mostly centered off shore, and the wave had hit the southern shore, where there were less people. There were still people hurt, and things were a bit of a mess, but the island seemed to have gotten lucky.

He and Sasuke headed straight to the palace, where they were greeted by a very agitated Hikaru.

"Kakashi-sensei, we looked all over, we never found them, just some clones and....!"

"Easy,Hikaru. Don't worry, we'll find them." He gripped the youth's shoulder comfortingly. Hikaru took a deep breath, visibly calming himself, then nodded. Kakashi looked over to where Sasuke was keeping a wary eye on Chamu, who was sniffing his hands. Despite the situation,the silver haired jonin almost laughed at the way Sasuke was trying to edge away from the tiger with out being obvious about it.

"Hikaru-sama, can we see the last place they were? We have enough light left for that."

"Sure, this way."

The young man led them to a small beach on the other side of a large stand of trees from the palace. " We found some people who had taken shelter in a couple of these trees. I came because some kids from the palace always play here. I found them in a tree with Naruto-ni, but as soon as I found them, he disappeared. I remembered about his clones then. Another party found some women and children and told the same story. One of the women told us that the girl with pink hair that helped them was swept away and that the man had jumped in after her."

Kakashi and Sasuke glanced at each other. "How many islands are out there that they could wash up on?" Sasuke asked.

Hikaru looked downcast."Dozens."

Sasuke looked thoughtful for a minute. "Ok kid, I'll make this easy for you. What islands could they get in the most trouble on?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello!!**

**Sorry this took a little longer than usual. Forces beyond my control. That's all I'm going to say.**

**I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't have to pay for the DVDs**

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Sakura woke suddenly. Naruto! The last thing she remembered, Naruto was saying he was going to get some supplies from the compound, and then she had fallen asleep!

_I can't believe I did that!_

She swung her arm back and probed around behind her, and her heart rate returned to normal after coming in contact with a warm body. Reassured, she opened her eyes. Soft moonlight was coming through the various holes in their shelter ,just enough for her to see by a little. Based on her internal clock, Sakura judged it to be around two in the morning. Her stomach growled when she realized something smelled good nearby. She sat up just enough to look around, but not enough to wake Naruto, who had an arm draped over her like usual. They were still on their bed of leaves, but the addition of a sturdy blanket thrown over them was a change. There were some stacks of folded cloth at her feet, and the smells were coming from sacks of what appeared to be bread and fruit. Some had been taken out and lay near her hand.

She looked down at her sleeping partner. He had certainly been busy. His hair was slightly damp, probably from washing off another mud disguise before coming to bed. She sighed in relief. She berated herself slightly for worrying so much. After a childhood consisting of prank after prank, stuff like this was what he was good at. After a few very successful missions involving theft or espionage, she had once told him that if he didn't make enough money being a shinobi, he could always turn to a life of crime. He could slip into anywhere he needed, take whatever he wanted, and leave the place looking exactly how he found it. Sakura was sure there were a few people out there that ,to this day, had no idea anything had been stolen from them.

He had laughed and told her he would add "sneak thief" to his resume.

Sakura reached down and found the round of bread and a couple pieces of fruit that he had left out for her and devoured them with relish. Judging by the cores and peels piled neatly nearby, Naruto had already eaten. She finished her early breakfast and laid back down, snuggling closer to her warm bedmate. She had always been cold in the morning until she had started sharing a bed with Naruto.

_One of the perks of having a jinchuriki boyfriend_, she thought.

She could remember when ,and why, they had started their sleeping arrangement. It was the night he had been released from the hospital after almost dying, their first night in their new homes on the Uchiha compound. She had snuck in his window after dark and had sat on the edge of his bed, just watching him sleep. At first, she had just wanted the reassurance that he was really there and breathing. She hadn't been planning on doing anything else, and was about to return to her own bed, but his eye had cracked open for a second. Without a word he had scooted over and pulled back the covers in a silent invitation.

That had started it. Ino had nobly refrained from mentioning that she seemed to have the house to herself most nights. It was only after a day of subtle teasing on Shikamaru's part that she realized he had seen her that first night. It was then she realized that keeping secrets from the rest of the group was utterly impossible now that they lived within close proximity to each other. By the end of the first week everybody knew. And understood. Luckily for her, they all knew to keep their mouths shut with everybody besides another of the Twelve. She knew what she was doing was hardly proper, and that her mother would read her the riot act if she ever found out.

Sakura could justify her actions though. To herself anyway. One, it's not like they did anything besides sleep. They had talked long and hard, and had decided to wait until their bond was absolutely unshakable and no one could say anything.. The second, and most important reason to her mind, was that he could actually get a good nights sleep with her there. Something about her presence kept the worst of the nightmares away, and let him sleep without thrashing around.

Like now.

The person who had taken to sleeping on tree branches while out on missions so he wouldn't disturb anyone was the picture of peace. That just made the possibility of dealing with any talk and rumor worth it for her.

Sakura smiled as she drifted back to sleep. Anything she could do for him was always worth it.

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The next morning, Sakura could tell Naruto was getting restless. Patience had never been one of his strong suits, and evidently his activities of the previous night had not been enough to settle him. In fact, he was about to drive her crazy with his fidgeting. The inside of a tree was just too small to hold Naruto's energy. At the moment he was pacing like a caged animal.

"Naruto! " Sakura snapped as he stomped past her for the umpteenth time.

He stopped and gave her a hurt look.

She smiled to take the sting out of her words. "Sweetie, I'm sorry, but this place just isn't big enough for the both of us when you're in this mood. Let's get out of here and go to the stream or something."

"Actually, I was thinking of heading to the beach I washed up on. That's the direction that Crescent Moon is in, and that's probably where people will look first. I want to be easy to find."

Sakura readily agreed, not because she thought anyone would show up anytime soon, but just to give him something to do. All she could do right now was humor him. If he thought he was doing something productive, he would be a lot easier to live with. Personally, she thought that the chances of anyone finding them in the near future were pretty slim. There were dozens of islands in the area. It didn't make for good odds. But she stood up slowly, adjusting her borrowed clothes as she did, and watched as Naruto gathered up the blanket and bags of food. Obviously he was planning on spending most of the day at the beach.

She was stronger today, but not quite up to a trek, so once again she held onto his back as he started through the trees towards the coast. She felt less vulnerable now that she was wearing some more substantial clothes. Dull brown was not one of her favorite colors, but the loose kimono was soft and warm and blended in to the forest better than a bright red bikini. The same went for the dark brown shirt and pants that Naruto was now wearing. A ninja never liked to feel that exposed.

Sakura looked around with interest as they passed through sections she hadn't seen before. There was no sign on this side of the island that it was at all inhabited. The people seemed to stay mostly in the immediate vicinity of the compound. Lucky for them.

On reaching the beach, Naruto let her down and spread their blanket under the low hanging branches of a tree right on the edge of the sand. From here you could see the entire sweep of beach, and far out to sea. They both made themselves comfortable and just sat, enjoying each others company while scanning the horizon. For most of the day they just talked, something they didn't get to do back home very often. If it wasn't for their situation it would have been the perfect vacation. What with missions and everything, it was so hard for them to find time to just talk. Naruto had quite a reputation in the surrounding countries, and was requested a lot. That meant his team was out of the village more often than not. Sakura was slowly taking over the running of the hospital, and when she wasn't there, was also out on missions that required her talents. Most nights they ate dinner with whoever of their friends were home at the time, went to bed, and caught up as much as they could before falling into exhausted sleep. Any time they could get together was a treat.

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By late afternoon, the heat off the sand was making Sakura drowsy. She leaned more and more onto Naruto's shoulder, fighting to stay awake. Naruto looked down at her and grinned.

"Why don't you rest for a bit. I'm going to scout around for awhile, ok? Head up the coast a ways. I haven't seen any sign that the locals come this far from the compound very regularly, so you should be fine. "

"Go ahead," Sakura said, scooting back so she was propped up by the tree. "I'm just going to close my eyes for a little bit. Be careful."

He leaned down, kissed her on the forehead, then pulled himself into the branches overhead and was gone.

Sakura dozed off and on for the next hour or so, waking up to scan the water every so often. She also spent a little of the chakra she had managed to save up to further heal her head wound a bit more. Not all the way, but enough to make it less annoying.

She was just starting to wonder when Naruto was going to come wandering back when a branch snapped behind her. In a reaction based on pure instinct, Sakura stood up and whirled around in one less than graceful motion. She cursed the lingering weakness in her legs as she watched a dozen men walk slowly out of the forest. They were all dressed similarly in earth toned clothes, and were all armed with various farming implements and small fishing spears.

_Well isn't this just my friggin luck?_

She back up slightly as the men slowly spread out to surround her. One carrying a spear stepped out ahead of the rest in a authoritative manner.

" We found you. I don't know how you got out of our holding cell, but I shouldn't have underestimated one of you demons. You will not escape again. I will not let you endanger our way of life. If you do not come quietly, we will be forced to end your threat permanently."

Sakura held up her hands to show they were empty. She had to try to defuse this situation somehow, especially before Naruto returned. While his temper was much more stable now that his seal cut him off from most of the Kyuubi's influence, he wasn't always rational when it came to her safety.

"I'm sorry if my presence offends you, and I assure you I'm not trying to do anything to the way you choose to live here. I was washed here by a tsunami and I'm just trying to get back to where I came from." She was banking on the fact that they still didn't seem aware of Naruto's existence yet.

The man swept his arm angrily at her words. "You lie! You have stolen from us without our knowing, and as soon as you leave you will tell others where we live and they will come and finish what they started with our forefathers. You will never be allowed to leave." He took a few aggressive steps toward her.

This was getting her nowhere. It was fruitless to try to convince people who were so adamant in their beliefs. She didn't want to hurt any of them (and wasn't sure she could at the moment) and was trying to think of some way to scare them off, when she felt it.

A large, familiar chakra signature, coming fast. Naruto was on his way.

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Naruto was just heading back to where he had left Sakura when he felt the slight surge in her chakra. Looking up the beach, he could see distant figures standing in the open, several surrounding one. He felt his muscles contract and the hair on the back of his neck stand up as his anger spiked. He was dimly aware of his seal and crystal glowing around his neck as they suppressed the red chakra starting to seep out of his skin. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and disappeared in a cloud of sand as he shushined to a spot right behind Sakura.

The men surrounding her stepped back quickly at his sudden appearance. As Naruto drew himself up to his full height, he was surprised to see he towered over the leader by almost a foot. This was the first time he had been this close to the inhabitants of the island. They were ,for the most part, short and stocky. They looked like the farmers and herders found in villages near Iwa. Considering where most of the heavy fighting during the last war had taken place, Naruto now understood why these people mistrusted shinobi so much. Most of them looked more scared than belligerent, and that made Naruto calm down even more. He really didn't want to hurt these people. Maybe he could reason with them, or if not, bluff a bit and scare them off.

"As I'm sure the lady was trying to explain to you, we're here by accident and want to leave just as much as you want us to. I see a couple of options. We could do what we have been doing and stay on our side of the island until someone comes to get us. We promise to stay away from the settlement. Or you could loan us a boat and we could be out of your hair even sooner. I'm sure I could arrange for the boat to be brought back or replaced. It's up to you how peacefully this ends."

The leader looked up at him in shock, as if not expecting Naruto to be so reasonable. It only lasted a moment though, as the man raised his spear threatening. "Absolutely not! Let you leave so you can tell them where we are? You would return and wipe us out, or enslave us. You are coming back with us and are never leaving. If you resist, we will kill you."

Naruto shook his head. So much for the reasoning part. Time for the bluffing. "Close your eyes," he muttered to Sakura. He started to mold wind chakra so that the sand began to swirl and dance around them. The men started and began to look around them uneasily. Naruto slowly began to build the pressure, as the sand broke into individual columns. Soon they were surrounded by several dust devils. Naruto had gotten this idea from watching Gaara and Temari fight together. It really was great having friends like Temari, who was a brilliant wind master, and Gaara, who had plenty of practice scaring the snot out of people.

The vortexes swirled higher and higher and soon there was one behind every man. The leader was visibly shaking at the display of power, but brought his spear up to point at Naruto. Naruto had to give the guy credit. He had balls. He almost thought that he was going to have to take this a step further, when one of the men broke and ran. Then another. Soon there several bodies pounding away down the beach. The ones that were left were either made of sterner stuff, or, judging by some of the expressions, too scared to move. Not surprisingly, the leader looked cowed, but still ready to fight. Time slowed down as he raised his spear and prepared to cast it. He felt Sakura grab the back of his shirt as a large flock of birds began shrieking like mad nearby.

Wait, birds?

Naruto let the sand drop as all the occupants of the beach looked in the same direction. Two man sized balls of lightning were rolling up the beach at a furious rate, leaving melted sand and ozone in their wake.

That did it for the rest of the islanders. All of them , including the leader, turned tail and ran, disappearing into the forest. Naruto didn't blame them. He would have been startled too if he hadn't seen this phenomenon half a dozen times before. The two balls of crackling light slowed as Kakashi and Sasuke dispelled the jutsu surrounding them. Soon they were trotting up to where Naruto and Sakura were standing.

Naruto leaned over and braced his hands against his knees, breathing hard and chuckling. He cocked his head and looked up at his friend and his brother. "Nice timing, guys."

Sasuke went to lend a shoulder to Sakura, who was looking a little shaky. She hugged him, stunned. "How in the hell did you get here so fast? If you left Konoha after hearing about the tsunami, got there, then checked every other island in the vicinity, you shouldn't be here for days."

Sasuke smirked, his usual expression when he was feeling particularly smug about something. "We figured you would end up in a place where you would get into the most trouble. This colony settled on Crescent Moon years ago, then moved here. Your friend Hikaru read some old records about their views on shinobi, and gave us the general location of this island, and here we are. We saw your sandstorm, Naruto, and I knew you only do that when you want to scare people. We just decided to see what these people's breaking point is." He studied them. "Are you all right?"

"Nothing a nights sleep in a real bed and a couple of good meals can't fix."

Kakashi came up and clapped Naruto on the back. "Come on then. Let's get out of here. Our boat is just around that point."

As the three teammates trudged behind their former teacher, Sasuke looked over at Naruto and Sakura. They both quirked their eyebrows at the expression on his face.

"What?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Can't you two even take a vacation like normal people?"

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After a few nights on a bed of leaves, it was almost a novel experience for Sakura to wake up in a real bed. The bed in her room in the guest house at the palace, as a matter of fact. She really couldn't remember getting here. She was leaning against the side of the small sailboat that Kakashi and Sasuke had traveled in and then she was here. She must have dozed off.

Again.

She would have to think hard before the next time she went through that long of a self healing trance, as it seemed to turn her into a narcoleptic for days afterward.

She opened her eyes and looked up at a soft click as the door joining hers and Naruto's room slid open and a shaggy blond head poked through. When he saw she was awake, Naruto beamed and crossed the room in a few long strides. Sakura smiled sleepily as he climbed on the bed and kneeled next to her. He was already dressed in his usual black pants and haori, and Sakura could see the faint outline of his short sword on his back. After this week, he would probably never take it off. He hated to be without his most prized possession.

"Are you going to sleep all day?" he asked plaintively." We have to leave for home in a day or two, you know."

" No I'm not going to sleep all day ,silly. I'm fine now. Where's Sasuke and Kakashi?"

"Sasuke's in the room right above us and Kakashi got the cabin next door. We'll meet them for breakfast, but I needed to talk to you alone first" He rubbed the back of his head.

Sakura looked at him fidget curiously as she sat up. Was he sweating? She had no idea what would make him act so nervous.

"Sakura, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, " he said as he shifted around so that he was kneeling right in front of her.

Sakura's heart began to beat faster.

"I know that I will never love anyone as much as I love you. You have made the last couple years the happiest of my life. I want to do the same for you for the rest of yours." He held out a small box and opened it. Nestled inside on a bed of black silk was a silver ring.

"Will you marry me?"

Sakura was speechless.

He started to babble. "I understand if you need to think about it a bit. I mean you did just wake up and it's awful sudden and….." He stopped as Sakura put her hand across his mouth.

"Of course I will."

Naruto's face went blank for a second before a smile slowly worked its way across it. He picked up the ring and Sakura let him place it gently on her finger. She was touched to see that his hands were shaking. She held up her hand to admire the band. It had deep blue sapphires alternating with green jade beryls all around it. Sakura looked at it a moment before she realized that the stones were the exact same colors as their eyes. She looked deeply into those blue eyes and threw her arms around his neck. He squeezed her back, then cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply, in such a way that made her melt. He really was a great kisser.

After a suitable while, they just sat with their foreheads resting together, content in the contact. Naruto broke the silence by chuckling. "I hope that wasn't too cliché. I had wanted to make it a little more of an event."

Sakura leaned against his chest and snuggled her head under his chin. "Love, with our eventful lives, sometimes cliché is a good thing. Naruto, this ring is beautiful. How did you find something that fits the two of us so well?"

"I found it in a shop our first day here. It seemed like an omen. I was planning on finding the perfect moment to ask, but then forces beyond my control interfered."

Sakura sat up and giggled at the sour look on his face, and laughed louder when a series of loud thumps came from the ceiling. "I think someone wants us to get up."

Naruto pulled her back against his chest. " He can wait. I'm comfortable just where I am."

More thuds, almost like someone was moving heavy furniture. " Well, he hasn't seen us for over a week, and we are the only family he has. Besides, you need him to be your best man."

Louder thumps. "He keeps it up and I'm going to ask Shikamaru."

Sakura laughed at that as she climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. "Let me get cleaned up and we'll go to breakfast. I'm starving."

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It didn't take Sasuke and Kakashi long to notice the ring when they met for breakfast at a restaurant in the city. Sasuke just grunted a "It's about time" at them. But a second later he got up and hugged Sakura in one of the rare displays of affection that only the people in Team Seven saw. Kakashi grinned at them behind his mask and only commented that Genma owed him 10,000 ryo.

"What?" Sakura asked, perplexed.

Naruto was quicker to catch on. "You guys were betting on when I would ask her?" He looked incredulous.

"Well sure. It was taking so long that it was only natural that we begin to speculate on when it would happen. Kiba's going to be mad. He said it would take another year. Genma said six months. At least I got it down to this month."

Naruto stared at Kakashi, doing a creditable impression of a landed fish. Finally he shook his head. "I'm so glad that my personal life is so profitable for you."

Sakura decided to change the subject. Luckily they had all finished their food. "So now what? We don't leave until tomorrow. What are we going to do with ourselves?"

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other. Sasuke shrugged. "I don't care."

"Then we will do what all people do when they come to Crescent Moon," Naruto announced. "We are going to the beach."

With that, they all trooped out of the restaurant. The city had suffered very little damage from the quake and wave, and it seemed to be business as usual. Michiru had sent the gennin and medic teams to some of the outer islands who had been hit hard, but they would be back by tomorrow so they could all travel home together.

Sakura grabbed Sasuke by the arm. "First things first. As usual, Sasuke is overdressed." She pulled him into a shop and soon emerged with him dressed very similarly to Naruto. He wore black shorts with a knee length blue vest.

"Ok, now we're ready! Onward!" Naruto started to lead them toward the coast when they noticed that Kakashi was lagging behind.

"Come on, sensei! How many vacations do you get?"

"You guys go ahead and have fun. I'm…just going to head back to the cabin."

His hand was in his pouch, and Sakura saw the familiar orange book cover. Naruto suddenly got an evil grin and walked over to Kakashi. In a motion hard for the eyes to follow, he grabbed the older and slightly shorter man's arm. With one heave, Naruto ducked and hauled Kakashi face down across his shoulder. Straightening up under his load, Naruto turned and started to walk down the street. Sakura and Sasuke followed behind, stifling their laughter.

"You know, this was never very dignified when your father did this to me, either'" Kakashi said to the middle of Naruto's back.

"Sorry sensei, but you're going to have fun whether you want to or not. It's just payback for the betting. You can tell Genma and Kiba to watch their backs when we get home."

Sakura laughed at the thought of the hell that was going to break loose when they got back to Konoha in a few days.

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**See ya next time. Won't be so long. Promise.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I want to know what kunzite means since my spell checker insists on chainging kunoichi to it at every turn**

**I don't own Naruto and I couldn't think of a wittier disclaimer this time**

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"Sasuke! Below you!"

Sasuke didn't even look down. He shot straight into the air as wicked stone spikes erupted from the ground beneath him. Sakura watched as the enemy Jonin moved his hands, directing the spikes to follow Sasuke's trajectory. He wasn't about to give the Uchiha a good place to land.

"Like hell," Sakura growled. She was already in a bad mood. This guy was messing with the wrong kunoichi's teammate. And he wasn't even paying attention to her.

Well, he would be in a moment.

Sakura sprinted forward from her position near the edge of the clearing the fight was centered in, ignoring the sounds of other combatants around her. She pushed her speed faster and faster, gathering chakra into her fist all the while. At the last moment she rammed her fist into the ground at a shallow angle. The effect was that, rather than opening fissures in the ground, vibrations gained power as they traveled in waves. The Jonin, his attention still on Sasuke, barely had time to look up at her before he was sucked into the now liquefied earth beneath him. But this would not hold an Iwa nin of his level for long.

"Compliments of going through an earthquake a couple weeks ago! Now, Sasuke!"

Still in the air, Sasuke loosed the hottest katon jutsu he could muster right at the spot the enemy had disappeared. The ground hardened to a thick, ceramic, superheated, shell. A few moments later the spikes dissolved back into the ground as the jutsu's wielder died from heat and asphyxiation. Sasuke landed lightly nearby.

Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow and looked around. This was one section of forest that would never be the same again.

The day had started out so quietly ,too.

Early in the morning, word had come by hawk that a village near Konoha had spotted a group of people traveling through their territory in a less than open manner. Naruto's squad had been dispatched to intercept what was assumed to be a small group of bandits. Several hours later one of Naruto's tiny toads had popped in on Tsunade's desk with a call for reinforcements. Come to find out that the "bandits" were in fact three full squads of Iwa shinobi, deep in Fire Country for some reason or another. Three squads. Nine chunin, with three Jonin commanders.

Sakura and Sasuke had been sent out, with instructions to take anyone useful they found on the way to the gates. They had grabbed Choji on their way out of the tower. He had been running some errand or another for his father, but had dropped everything when he heard what was going on. Unfortunately, the rest of Team Nara had the day off and were nowhere to be found. The three of them had passed Hinata's team coming in the gate as they were on their way out. When they had shouted a hasty explanation, Hinata had promptly turned her team right around and caught up in a few seconds.

"We had an escort mission, and nothing exciting happened, so we're still raring to go." Hinata looked back at Tenten and the two young chunin on her team. "Right guys?" A chorus of "hai!" answered her. "Besides, I just got Kiba trained the way I like him. I need to protect my time investment." Her tone was light, but worry crossed her face briefly.

The reinforcements, now seven strong , had raced to Naruto's last coordinates to find his team engaged with the enemy, but with Naruto himself nowhere to be seen. They had quickly spread out to back up their embattled comrades. Kiba and Konohamaru had been somehow holding their own, and Machi was down with a badly broken leg, but was far from out. The dark haired kunoichi with a predilection for black clothes and large projectiles had perched herself in a tree and was peppering any enemy that held still long enough with summoned shuriken and kunai. She was the one who had seen her captain swallowed up by an earth jutsu several minutes into the fight, the ground closing up behind him. They hadn't seen him since.

Hinata directed her chunin to protect Machi while she and Tenten engaged one of the Jonin. Kiba and Choji kept another one busy while Konohamaru took a breather, and Sakura and Sasuke had just taken out the other. Several of the lower level chunin, who Sakura suspected had just been brought along for jutsu bait, had surrendered as soon as they had arrived. This fight was in the bag, but it wasn't over yet.

Sakura tried to keep her mind on the fight and off of the whereabouts of her fiancé. Was this how it was going to be the rest of their lives, one wondering whether the other would return home after a mission? Now she knew why few ninja made permanent attachments. Or if they did, rarely made them official. But for some reason, Sakura knew it would work out for her and Naruto. She knew how strong they both were. Neither of them would fall easily. But she couldn't help getting more and more anxious the longer he stayed missing.

Despite herself, her thoughts wandered to the normal breakfast they had shared just this morning. He had been excited about something that she couldn't quite remember now. What had it been? Oh yeah, he had been going on about some jutsu he had just perfected. Something about his father.

His father. Jutsu. It clicked.

"Kiba! Kiba!"

"Can it wait, Sakura?! I'm a little busy!" Kiba hollered back. The Jonin he and Choji were fighting, a big man with a badly scarred face, had just broken away from the Akimichi and Akamaru and was charging, starting a complex and troublesome looking set of hand signs.

"Didn't Naruto give you something this morning?!"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Think!"

"I don't remem….Wait….Oh yeah!"

Kiba pulled an ordinary looking kunai out of his pouch. Ordinary until you looked at it closely and saw the seals carved into the metal of the blade. Kiba sighted on the charging Iwa ninja and threw it. The Jonin ground to a halt and just swayed his upper body to the side. The kunai buried itself in the ground behind him.

"Ha! Didn't they teach you little leaves to throw in school?"

"Yep," Kiba said, smirking, as a yellow flash erupted from the kunai. "Sure did."

The Jonin began to charge again but was distracted when a hand came out of nowhere and gripped his shoulder. He looked behind him into a pair of furious blue eyes. "That's imposs……" Then everything went dark.

Sakura watched as Naruto quickly snapped the man's neck and let him drop. He was bruised, disheveled, dirty, and pissed, but otherwise looked fine. He leveled a glare at the last Iwa Jonin, who had paused in his battle with the two kunoichi just in time to see him appear. The man blanched white as the wind began to swirl around him, kicking up dust, and quickly took off into the trees, abandoning the chunin under his command to their fate. Naruto shook his head, causing bits of dirt and gravel to dislodge from his hair as the last couple chunin putting up a fight dropped their weapons hastily. He stalked over to where Machi and Konohamaru were sitting. "You guys all right?"

Machi looked up at her captain and grinned. "Nothing to worry about. Sakura-san could have this leg fixed in a second."

"I'm going to go home and sleep for a week," grumbled Konohamaru

" Ha! You guys earned it, good job, both of you." Naruto reached out and tousled their hair, and, calm now that he saw that his kids were only a little banged up, walked over to Sakura and wrapped his arms around her. He rested his cheek against the top of her head and sighed gustily. "Well, that was fun. I'm all for the sleep for a week thing."

She smiled into his chest. "No kidding. Where were you?"

"Fighting my way out of a tunnel filled with traps and finding myself who knows where. Damn, I hate earth jutsu. By the time I found a place near enough to the surface that I could blast my way out without bringing the whole thing down on top of me, I was miles from here. I was on my way when I felt the seals go off. Which reminds me."

Naruto straightened up. "Kiba, could I talk to you for a moment?"

Warned by something in his friend and captain's voice, Kiba kept his distance, putting Hinata between them. "What?"

"Seriously Kiba, come here for a sec."

"That's ok, buddy, I know that tone."

" Geez, paranoid much? I'm not going to do anything."

Kiba edged closer. Then Hinata, finished checking him out for injuries, shoved him forward. Kiba studied his friend, and was somewhat reassured. Naruto's voice was calm, and he had an arm around Sakura, but he still had this slight look of impending mayhem on his face.

He was right.

Naruto's long arm shot out and wrapped around Kiba's neck before he could even run. Soon he was in a headlock and Naruto was dragging his knuckles back and forth across his scalp, while his traitorous dog and his even more traitorous girlfriend stood by and just watched.

"Kiba, what was the point of me spending the past year working on the Hiraishin, learning the seals from what little scraps of notes I could find, preparing the kunai until my hands are bloody, if it takes you an hour to remember to** throw the damn knife!!**"

"Come on man, I'm sorry. I mean, you just gave me that thing this morning. How was I supposed to remember that? At least we know it works now, right? And quit with the noogieing already!" Naruto grinned and let him go. Kiba went to stand next to Hinata, grumbling under his breath about abusive captains. Hinata held his hand, trying not to laugh.

The Iwa chunin, huddled together nearby under Tenten's watchful gaze, were looking at this exchange with something akin to awe, with no little confusion mixed in. Naruto regarded them, not unkindly. "Do any of you have serious injuries? We'll be moving out soon." Naruto cocked his head, perplexed, when they all looked at him in horror and shook their heads rapidly. He looked at Sakura. "What's with them?"

Sakura laughed and Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes. "Naruto, they just saw one of their bedtime stories come to life. They've probably been raised on legends of Konoha's Yellow Flash. Congratulations, you've just become your father."

Naruto looked sour. "Great, I've just become a second generation Iwa bogeyman." He walked back over to Machi. " Lets get out of here and go home. Hey Akamaru, how's about giving Machi a lift home. Your master can walk for once."

The giant dog woofed in agreement and paced over to the chunin. He lay down next to her and rolled over so she could throw her good leg over him and grip his fur. He slowly rolled back over on his chest and stood up, bringing Machi with him. He was so gentle in this maneuver that the kunoichi didn't even grimace in pain. The dog started down the faint game trail they had followed to get here with Konohamaru walked beside them in case he had to steady his teammate. Tenten and the two chunin rounded up their captives and herded them down the trail as Sasuke and Choji took to the trees on either side to watch for further trouble. Kiba and Hinata followed behind Tenten, talking quietly. That left Naruto and Sakura bringing up the rear as they started for home.

They walked quietly for awhile, hand in hand, before Naruto brought up a rather sore subject that had been an ongoing argument between them for the past few days or so.

"So, have you told her yet?"

Sakura grimaced. He just wouldn't let this go.

"Noooo."

He gave her a Look. "Sakura."

"I know, I know! You just have no idea how bad she's going to take it."

"Sakura, it's your mother. What is the worst she could possibly do to you?"

"Naruto, she was giving me a hard time about us being friends. What do you think she's going to say when I tell her this?"

"I think she would have issues no matter who you married, personally."

"I'm not so sure about that. You know, you're twenty, I'm almost twenty-one. Why are you making such a big deal about getting one persons approval?"

Naruto walked with his head down so she couldn't see his eyes beneath his fringe. "One of us should have family there," he answered lowly.

Oh, so that's what all this was about. She should have seen it, knowing how strongly he felt about family. He had been even more sensitive about it since he had been reading his father's scattered notes on the Hiraishin. She started to apologize when both of them had to screech to a halt.

Hinata was standing in the middle of the trail, hands on her hips and a very exasperated look on her face. The diminutive kunoichi stalked up to Naruto and shook a slightly glowing fingertip in his face, close enough that he had to cross his eyes to keep it in focus.

"That's it, I've heard enough. Naruto, don't you dare think that you won't have any family at your wedding. Tell me, what are all of us, exactly? Just your neighbors? How about Iruka? Shizune? Kakashi? How about I tell the Hokage what you just said?"

Naruto shook his head frantically at that, still trying to keep her fingertip in sight. What had he been thinking giving this woman more confidence. Right now he almost missed the Hinata who could hardly talk to him. Not the one who flicked you with slightly charged Jukken fingers. And in a standard Jonin's uniform instead of her old lavender clothes, she just looked plain dangerous. Luckily for him, she rounded on Sakura next.

"And you. Sakura, tell your mother before we tell her for you. Are you too ashamed of Naruto to tell her you're marrying him? Is that it?"

Sakura stared at her friend, aghast. " Of course not! That's not it at all! Its just that….I'm scared, alright! I'm terrified beyond belief to tell her."

Naruto snorted several times, like he did when he was holding in a laugh. Sakura glared at him. He wrapped his arms around her and chuckled.

"Sakura, I don't know where you got the idea that you were the only one that was scared. I've been scared since you said yes. I'm terrified at the whole idea. Marrying you always seemed like an unattainable dream to me. Now that I'm actually doing it, its freaking me out. Beside, you'll have it easy with your mother. You should have seen me telling Baa-chan." He shuddered dramatically.

Sakura started to laugh. "Look at the two of us. Some Jonin we are. How about we just agree to be freaked out together from now on."

Naruto kissed her on the forehead. "Deal."

Hinata sighed and looked at her boyfriend. "Isn't that cute Kiba?"

"Whatever. I think it's too much trouble. He should just do what all the Inuzuka men have always done and just carry her off and….Hey! Get that finger away from me!"

----------------------------------------------------

Sakura was facing an opponent that scared her in a way she hadn't experienced since she had made chunin. An opponent who knew her weaknesses like no other.

Her mother.

Naruto was lucky she loved him as much as she did, or she would have never agreed to this.

Sakura had thought she had this planned out pretty well. She went at a time of the day that she knew Haruno Hanako was usually relaxed. She had a bag of her mother's favorite dango. She had prepared a strong and foolproof speech. Then her mother, who could still read her like a book, had steered her to sit next to her on the couch and asked why she was being buttered up.

All of Sakura's carefully laid plans had gone out the window at that point and she had decided to just get it over with.

"Mom, I'm engaged." There, she had said it.

Hanako raised an elegant eyebrow. "Engaged? To whom may I ask are you engaged to? The only boy you have talked about lately is……." A look of dawning comprehension settled on her face. "No. No! Absolutely not! There is no way you could marry that…that…."

Sakura cut her off with a scowl. This was going downhill after only the first exchange. "Mother, if you want to be a part of this at all, you'll watch how you finish that sentence. I want you to be there and all, but I won't let you, or anyone else, put Naruto down. He's the one who wanted me to tell you, even though I knew you'd react this way."

"But, the demon…?"

"Lives in him but does not control him. He hasn't had to use its power in years, he's powerful enough on his own. Don't count something against him that isn't his fault. He's suffered enough because of it."

Hanako seemed to sense the seriousness in her daughters voice, and tried to change tactics. "But sweetie, "she said cajolingly, "you could do so much better."

Sakura rolled her eyes. She had wondered when she would try that. She was sure that her mother still secretly hoped that she would have an Uchiha as a son-in-law. Somehow she suspected that that was the real reason behind her mothers objections, and not to Naruto personally.

"Better than the Yondaime's son, that is?" Sakura asked dryly. Naruto would forgive her for using that information as leverage.

Hanako spluttered. "That's just a rumor."

"Mother, please. If they looked any more alike, they would be twins. Just yesterday he scared the bejeezus out of a handful of Iwagakuri shinobi. It isn't a secret anymore, even though he doesn't like to make a big deal about it."

Her mother was silent for a while and Sakura let her digest that info for awhile. She was about to say something when she caught movement outside the window out of the corner of her eye. Movement that had looked suspiciously like blond hair disappearing over the edge of the roof.

She was going to kill him.

"Mother," Sakura said sweetly, "could you excuse me for just a second?"

She got up and went outside on the small patio off the living room. It was hard to move with all of her mother's potted plants, but she squeezed through and looked up.

"All right, I know you're up there."

A second later, Naruto popped his head over the edge of the roof. He grinned at her sheepishly.

"Naruto, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to let me handle this."

"I'm here to plead my case. You should let me come in and work my charm on her." He gave her his most winning smile.

Sakura sighed. It actually was tempting. He was right, he could be very charming and persuasive when he wanted to be. She had heard Tsunade-sensei say more than once that Naruto could sell sand to Suna. But her mother was kind of riled right now, and Sakura wasn't sure she should be faced with the object of her dislike at the moment. " I'm not sure that's a good idea. If you couldn't tell, this isn't going so well."

"That's what I tried to tell him." Another head popped over the gutter.

"Sasuke, not you too!"

"Who better to help me plead my case?"

Sakura put her head in her hands. She was going to have a major headache after this was over.

Then she heard a slight commotion nearby. She made a low growling noise in her throat.

"Ok, I know why you two are here. Now what about them?" She pointed to a roof across the street, where an impromptu gathering seemed to be taking place. Kiba and Kankuro, who was in town on business for the Kazekage, were having a not so whispered conversation on the merits of various kunoichi. Shikamaru and Choji were sitting next to them, pretending not to listen, but nodding every so often. Kakashi and Genma were sitting above them on the crest of the roof, and one seemed to be passing some money to the other.

Naruto looked amused, and Sasuke smirked. "I think they're expecting some entertainment."

Suddenly Kiba's voice rang out. "Hey Naruto! Are you sure she's worth all this? You should just do what my father did and carry her off to some inn and just…"

He was cut off as Shikamaru hastily clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Kiba, shut up man, before…Crap, too late!" He released him and they all scattered as a flowerpot sailed across the road and smashed into the shingles where they had been sitting. It had been a large pot, and even the two Elite Jonin were forced to duck and cover as shards of pottery flew everywhere.

Kankuro looked at the enraged kunoichi as he brushed terra cotta off his clothes. " Hey guys, I think we need to find a roof a bit further away."

---

"Sakura? What's going on out there?" Her mother's voice called from inside.

"Great," Sakura thought, " now I have to buy her a new plant." She looked up at her fiancé and his brother. " Let me talk to her for a bit. I'll call you if I need you, ok."

Naruto reached down and cupped her cheek in his hand for a moment before he and Sasuke slid up and out of view. Sakura braced herself and went back inside.

"Sorry Mom, just some rabble out there I had to deal with. So where were we?"

Hanako just sat and studied her for a moment as she sat back down opposite her. The scrutiny was making her faintly uncomfortable. She wondered when she had gotten so threatened by her own mother. Maybe it was because her mother knew things about her that could possibly be used against her. Were all shinobi this paranoid? Some thing shishou had said to her the other day came back to her.

"Parents know just which strings control our heart and soul. After all, they're the ones who tied them there."

Sakura resolved to be a little more patient.

"Mother, just hear me out please. I have to fight for a living. I really don't like doing it on my days off. I know that you're just looking out for me, and I appreciate that, but you don't have to worry about this. Naruto is a good man." Sakura looked up and smiled." He's strong, he's smarter than most people give him credit for, but he's modest, and he makes me laugh. He's my best friend. I almost lost him last year, and it made me realize that I couldn't imagine ever being without him."

Hanako seemed to realize at this point that Sakura was no longer talking to her, but was addressing a spot somewhere over her right shoulder. She turned around to see the object of their discussion perched on the railing of her patio. It was the closest she had been to Uzumaki Naruto for quite awhile, and she barely saw the hyper, orange-clad gaki in this composed young man before her. His hair was long and shaggy, and he was wearing a haori that she recognized as something styled after what the Yondaime used to wear. In fact, she could see that Sakura was right. The resemblance was startling. The whisker marks followed the contours of a leaner face, and didn't stand out as much. He had one leg bent up under him on the rail, but she could tell when he stood up that he would be very tall. But there was something else that made him stand out. It was his soul, sitting out there for all to see. For a demon, he seemed more human than some others in this village, Hanako thought wryly.

Demon. She could never think that again.

It was the eyes that did it. Hanako had lived in Konoha her whole life. While Sakura was the first ninja since her great grandfather, one couldn't live here without being familiar with them. To her experience, most ninja acquired a hard, detached look after awhile. But this young man's eyes brimmed with good humor, amusement, and, right now, love. He and Sakura seemed to be locked in some kind of wordless exchange. She suddenly felt that she was intruding.

Sakura jumped as her mother cleared her throat. She saw a look of resignation tinged with acceptance go across her face. Hanako looked out where Naruto was still on the patio. "You might as well come in, young man. We have a lot to talk about."

Naruto bowed nervously in the doorway, then came and sat gingerly next to Sakura. He was trying to keep a certain distance from her, so as not to threaten her mother. He looked terrified. Sakura slid over until she was pressed up against him and took his hand.

Ninja never did anything halfway.

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**I took that line about parents tying strings to our hearts from my favorite author, Mercedes Lackey. It's in the book Owlsight. Great author, and full of little pearls of wisdom like that. **

**Till next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own Naruto. Just twisting things around to suite my fancy. Bloody muse.**

**Thanks to all my great reviewers: TheFinalCountdown, Carlalalita, Cloud Ex-SOLDIER, AnimeForThe Soul, Gravenimage, NarutoRocks21113043 and any more who have commented. **

**I'm going to keep this going to the wedding and beyond as far as I can take it while some other stories and one-shots are trying to make themselves known.**

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Naruto had been in many different kinds of situations. From terrifying to hilarious, painful to embarrassing, he had experienced it all in his twenty years of life.

Currently, he was in, hands down, the most uncomfortable situation he had ever been in.

He was sitting on a couch in a house he had never been in, next to his best friend, who he had finally worked up the courage to ask to marry him, and to his elation (and fright) had said yes. Now he was being very closely scrutinized by said love's mother. This was worse than the experience he had had earlier in the week.

Flashback

_Tsunade glanced up from her never-ending paperwork as her door opened and Naruto slowly edged in. That in itself told her something was up, because he usually just sailed in, no matter what happened to be going on at the time._

"_Um…Baa-chan?" _

"_Hey gaki, what do you need? As you can see, I'm a little busy."_

"_Hah. Busy. Right. Like you've signed more than one paper today."_

_Tsunade looked at her kid hard. That retort had been pretty half-hearted. Not one of his best efforts._

"_What's up with you?"_

_He swallowed nervously, and didn't say anything. Tsunade was starting to get genuinely worried. This wasn't like him at all. "Naruto, what's wrong?"_

_He drew himself up. "Baa-chanI'mgettingmarriedthanksseeya!" And with that made a dash for the door._

"_Freeze mister!!"_

_Naruto stopped with his foot halfway out the door. He slowly turned around and came back in. Tsunade stood up and came around her desk, standing toe to toe with her "little brother/son". She still wasn't used to having to look up to meet his eyes. "Would you care to run that by me again."_

_Naruto fidgeted. Tsunade was loving this. Making him squirm was getting harder and harder the older he got. So naturally she took every opportunity that came her way._

_"Well, on our trip I asked Sakura to marry me and she said yes so we thought we would do it some time next week if that's ok with you." This came out in almost as much of a jumble as his last statement._

_Tsunade just stared at him, then suddenly reached up and knocked his hatai-ate off his head. Since this was usually followed by one of her deadly forehead flicks, Naruto scrunched his eyes closed and braced himself. She grabbed the front of his jacket and yanked his head down…..and kissed him on the forehead, a gesture that had come to have a special meaning to the two of them. Naruto's eyes flew open. Tsunade grabbed him in a hug and said…"It's about damn time, little brother."_

_-----------------------------_

Naruto had thought that had been tough (and he knew he had to get back at Tsunade somehow for giving him a hard time), but he now knew where Sakura had gotten her "I could be a better interrogator than Ibiki 'cause all I have to do is glare at them 'till they crack" look. He'd almost rather fight Akatsuki all over again than face that look. Especially from someone whom he was convinced really didn't like him.

Finally, after a long interval of her studying him and him sitting trying to look harmless, Haruno Hanako sighed and got up. "If we're going to continue this discussion, I'd better make some tea." With that she moved into the kitchen.

Naruto shot Sakura a puzzled and slightly panicked look. "Discussion? What discussion?"

Sakura was sitting there with a very smug "I told you so" expression on her face. Naruto groaned mentally. He was the one who had insisted on her including her mother in their wedding in the first place. Now he was the one on the spot.

Payback was a bitch.

"All right, all right. You told me it would be like this and I didn't believe you. But at least she let me in the house."

"True. But you still could have let me get her more used to the idea before you made an appearance. Why did you ditch Sasuke and the others, by the way?"

"My loyal brother and moral support fell asleep on me up there." Naruto pointed up and out the patio door, where the edges of a pair of blue zori could barely be seen hanging over the edge of the roof. " And due to flying pottery, the rest of the gang felt it was too dangerous around here and left. You know, if you had hit Kankuro, you could have started an international incident. You should have just aimed for Kiba," he said, teasingly. Sakura grinned evilly. Naruto made a mental note to tell Kiba to keep his mouth shut around her for awhile. "So I got bored. I think I should have stayed bored."

Sakura then looked thoughtful as she craned her neck to look out the doorway." I can't believe Sasuke is comfortable enough to fall asleep in the open like that. Why does he sleep so much now? He wasn't like that before."

Naruto chuckled. He'd asked his brother the same question. "From the moment he left to the day he finally took care of Orochimaru, he had to sleep with one eye open at all times. Now he's in a place he feels safe, and he can catch up on sleep and let his guard down a little. Besides, it's not like anyone can sneak up on him, though it would be kind of fun to try."

Sakura grinned. "I don't think my mother would like to have to replace her roof, though."

"No kidding. I'm supposed to be making a good impression, remember."

"As if."

Naruto was hitting a laughing Sakura with a cushion as Hanako came back into the room caring a loaded tray. He dropped everything and jumped up to give her a hand, which earned him a measuring look, though with a bit more warmth than before. She sat down again and served them tea, then seemed to collect her thoughts.

"Uzumaki-san, it would seem as though I have been harboring certain ..misconceptions.. about you. My daughter has seen fit to educate me. Now I would like you to do so. I would like to know more about you."

Naruto unconsciously rubbed the back of his head, a nervous tic that he had apparently inherited from his father." For one thing Haruno-san, please call me Naruto. As Sakura can tell you, I'm not a very formal person. I'm also not very good at talking about myself. Please ask me whatever you want to know." He was starting to see where Sakura got her intelligence, and he was wondering how much this cross examination was going to hurt.

"Why do you not go by the Namikaze name?"

Naruto widened his eyes in surprise. He hadn't been expecting that one. He looked at Sakura, who was looking sheepishly into her cup of tea, but he couldn't be upset with her for telling her mother his heritage. Its not like it was a secret or anything. He thought about it for a moment. " In memory of my mother I suppose. My father is so well known, and people only have to look at that mountain, or my face, to remember him. I want people to know there was a Uzumaki Kushina. Besides, I've spent most of my life dragging her name through the mud. I can't imagine she would be pleased with me if I abandoned it now."

"It's not because of…what the Yondaime did? Are you mad at your father for the burden he placed on you?"

Naruto chuckled. " I was, for about ten minutes." He felt Sakura wince. He didn't blame her. He had destroyed a good portion of the training ground in those ten minutes.

Hanako raised her eyebrow. "So forgiving?"

"Not forgiving, just practical. Looking back, I can see that he had very little choice. He saved as many people as he could, in the shortest time possible." Naruto smiled. "I understand about choices like that now." He felt Sakura squeeze his hand.

"So you have no family?"

Sakura glared at her mother for the bluntness of the question, but Naruto laughed. "As I was forcefully reminded yesterday, I have plenty of family. I have a father, a brother, a grandmother, a few sisters and lots of friends."

"A father? Brother?"

"Umino Iruka has been like a father to me since I was nine. Even more so since my godfather died. And I have a brother, or blood brother, Uchiha Sasuke, who is currently asleep on your roof."

Hanako involuntarily looked up, as if Sasuke was about to suddenly come crashing through the ceiling. "If I remember from one of Sakura's rants from that time period, didn't he almost kill you?"

"He wasn't being himself. I forgave him of that a long time ago. He beats himself up about it enough."

Hanako recovered. "And is your grandmother on your father or mothers side?"

Hanako looked puzzled as both Naruto and Sakura started to laugh hysterically.

Naruto recovered first. "The way most of the clans in this village are interrelated somehow, I wouldn't be surprised if Tsunade-baa-chan wasn't a distant relation of mine, but you would never get her to admit it."

----------------------------------------------

Hanako was shocked at first when she realized he was talking about the Hokage, at his familiarity with such a person, but there was no boasting in his voice, only affection. It was then she realized that he was related to none of his "family" by blood. He saw all his friends as sort of an extended family. How extraordinary. Her maternal side was starting to respond to the young man. How lonely a childhood he must have had. How many people in his position would have become jaded and bitter with life? He could have grown up to be the embodiment of the demon the village feared so. Instead, he risked his life on a regular basis to protect it. And how many times had he protected her daughter? She saw another look pass between Naruto and Sakura. Hanako reached a decision quickly then.

She stood up suddenly, causing Naruto to stand as well to be polite. She walked around the table between them and without hesitation wrapped him in a hug. She felt him stiffen at first, but quickly relax and tentatively return the hug.

"I would be honored to count you as family, Naruto-san. I know you will look after my daughter."

"For the rest of my life," he replied seriously.

Sakura could only stand and watch, tears of happiness sliding down her cheeks. The two people she loved the most in the world were finally in sync.

----------------------------------------

"Why?" Kiba asked, a few nights later.

"Why what?" Shikamaru responded absently, as he and Neji scrutinized their shogi board. They and most of the rest of the guys were sitting at and around the large dinning room table in the main house. Kankuro was staying with them while he was in town. He much preferred that to staying in the guest quarters, as he had more fun here. At the moment had something or another spread out on the living room floor, tinkering with it. As much as he liked the puppet master, Shikamaru was still a little sour that Kankuro was the go-fer for the Kazekage this time, as Temari had just acquired a genin team and wouldn't be leaving Suna for awhile.

Choji and Lee had their backs to the table, watching the TV in the other room. Shino had ditched his enormous coat in the familiar company and was writing in a small book. Kiba was sitting with his chin in his hand and a disgruntled expression on his face. The four kunoichi had already adjourned to Tenten and Hinata's house for more feminine conversation.

Though all of their individual residences on the Uchiha compound had their own kitchens, eating together in the main house had been a tradition they had established fairly early on. They took turns cooking, with mixed results. Some of them were pretty good cooks, some of them couldn't boil water. The best cooks by far were Choji and Naruto, so they were often pressed into service.

"Why are we sitting here on our butts when we need to be celebrating Naruto's last week with us?"

Naruto looked up from his place at the end of the table where he was busy drawing explosive tags for everybody. The fact that he was good with seals meant that the rest of the group didn't have to pay ridiculously high prices for their tags. It was so nice that they didn't even mind ink on the table.

"Am I going somewhere I don't know about?"

"Come on, buddy. You're getting married in a week. You won't be your own man anymore. You should be enjoying yourself while you can," Kiba said plaintively.

Shikamaru grinned when Naruto snorted in amusement and picked up his brush again. "In case you forgot, I'm marring Sakura. I seriously doubt she's going to keep me chained up and never let me have any fun."

" You never know man, she might turn all possessive on you later. You could end up totally whipped."

"I wouldn't say that with her around, unless you want another pot chucked at your head," Sasuke commented from his seat next to Naruto, glancing up from the scroll he was reading. That got a "I hear that" from Kankuro in the other room.

Kiba just plowed on. "We should be out getting trashed, at the very least."

"Some of us don't get trashed," Shikamaru noted as he captured one of Neji's pieces, causing his opponent to frown and lean closer to the board. "Lee won't drink, Neji doesn't drink, and Naruto can't get drunk."

Which was true. Lee didn't drink( or more to the truth, they wouldn't let him drink) for obvious reasons. Every time they did, they ended up having to pay damages to someone.

Neji hadn't touched a drop of alcohol since an incident the night he became a jonin, when some of the older jonin had taken him out in celebration, namely Gai, Kakashi, and Genma. The rest of them weren't exactly sure what had happened, because Neji and the ones that were there weren't talking.

Shikamaru had discovered a little known fact about Naruto on the first anniversary of Jiraiya's death. Naruto had been holed up in his apartment for a full day before he and Sasuke had gotten worried and gone to check on him. They had found him sitting slumped over at his kitchen table, surrounded by empty beer and sake bottles. Sure that his friend was wasted out of his mind, Shikamaru had walked quietly across the room to make some strong tea when, to his surprise, Naruto had raised his head and looked at him. He had been cold sober. "So much for my wallowing in a drunken stupor." Naruto had said, chuckling ruefully. "What's the point of drinking this stuff if you don't get any of the benefits? How's about we grab some food, I'm starving."

Come to find out, the Kyuubi's chakra cleansed his system so well that he never even got tipsy when drinking, which kind of defeated the purpose. Now he only drank when he was being social.

"Doesn't mean the rest of us have to suffer, " Kiba grumbled. Then he perked up. "I know. How about one last prank. The prank to end all pranks. Whadaya say Naruto?"

Shikamaru looked over at Naruto and saw, with a sinking feeling, that he had put his brush down again and actually looked intrigued.

"Ok dog boy, I'm listening. What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know, you're the mastermind when it comes to stuff like that. You plan it out, and we'll help."

Shikamaru didn't at all like where this was going. Knowing these two, the rest of them were going to get dragged into this, whether they liked it or not.

Naruto looked thoughtful. "There is someone I need to do a payback on. All right, give me a few days and I'll work on it."

Shikamaru could hardly wait. To take his mind off it, he went back to slaughtering Neji at shogi.

-------------------------------------------

When he didn't hear about a prank for a few days, Shikamaru was hopeful that the idea had been dropped. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be.

Three nights later Kiba and Naruto walked into the dining room with their heads together, talking in low conspiratorial tones.

"Dare I ask?" Shikamaru drawled.

Kiba looked up. "You are not going to believe what this guy came up with. This is going to be great! Better than getting trashed."

Shikamaru didn't like the sound of that. Kiba drank like a fish. But he couldn't quite help being kind of curious about what Naruto had come up with. With him, you usually always learned something new.

Acting supremely uninterested, he asked, "so, you doing this tonight?"

"Yeah, late. I got the schedule of the ANBU shift rotation." Naruto grinned when Shikamaru's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "I've got my ways. It's not like anyone from outside would have gotten it."

"How many of us do you need?" Shikamaru cursed his curiosity. He was wondering just what kind of prank needed the ANBU shift schedule.

"Just a few. Some help to roll something heavy, then run interference if I need it. Be ready at about two. Oh, and wear your scouting gear." Naruto grinned at him again, and Shikamaru didn't need to be a genius to know exactly what his blond friend was thinking.

_Hook, line, and sinker_.

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To Shikamaru's surprise, there were eight black clad figures who gathered outside the main house at two in the morning. He had been sure that at least Neji and Shino would have resisted being sucked into this crazy scheme, but there they were. They were all hooded and masked, so the only way to tell each other apart were the eyes and body type, and sure enough, when he looked around, a pair of white eyes looked back. Shino was a little harder to pick out since they normally never saw him without his sunglasses on. Like him, their curiosity must have gotten the better of them.

They all looked expectantly at the tall, blue eyed shape, who had a large rolled up piece of canvas tied to his back. "So, you going to tell us who were going after now?" asked Sasuke's voice to Shikamaru's left.

Naruto turned and gazed in the direction of the center of the village. Shikamaru looked and just saw the top of the Hokage's tower poking over the roof. His stomach flipped. "You have got to be kidding. We're pranking the Hokage? Do you have a death wish? She'll hunt us down one by one and kill us."

"It's all good. She'll only be after me. Come on."

They followed Naruto across the roofs for several minutes until he seemed to find something he was looking for. "Here it is."

"It" turned out to be a huge ox cart filled about two quarters of the way with varying types of refuse, all in different stages of decay. "What are we doing with this?"

"I just thought that Tsunade-baa-chan's office could us some sprucing up, that's all."

"This is your prank to end all pranks? Throwing garbage around the Hokage's office. You could have done this when you were five", said a doubtful Choji.

"Four actually, but let me put it this way. We're not just moving the garbage."

Shikamaru was the first one to get it. "You want to tell me how eight of us are going to get a gigantic ox cart into the tower?" He couldn't wait for the answer.

"That's what this is for." He pulled out the piece of canvas and unrolled it in front of the cart. "Ta-da!"

They all gathered around to look. Painted in ink on the canvas was a large storage seal, the kind that shinobi used to carry more weapons and equipment in scrolls than what could be carried on the body.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto incredulously. "Have you lost your mind? You can't seal away something this big." He gestured at the cart. It probably took a team of four oxen to haul it. "It's got to weigh at least thousand pounds."

"Why not? It's all just a matter of scale. The bigger the seal, the more storage. We roll the cart onto the canvas, and it works just as good as storing a kunai." Naruto sounded confident. "Come on Shika, use your imagination."

"Yeah guys. If my captain says he can do something, he will." They all stared at Kiba. He had said that with all seriousness. It would seem that being on Naruto's team had made a believer out of the brash Inuzuka.

They all looked at each other and shrugged.

"If he pulls this off, I'm never going to hear the end of it," Shikamaru mumbled to himself.

"That's why I gave up arguing a long time ago," Sasuke said, coming up behind him.

With all eight of them pushing, the cart rolled onto the fabric with little resistance. When it was positioned to Naruto's liking, he stood back and formed the familiar seal for storing. Shikamaru watched him closely. He seemed to be poring a lot of chakra into it, but, theoretically with an object this big, it made sense. With a burst, Naruto released the chakra into the seal, and the cart vanished in a puff of smoke. Everyone except Sasuke and Kiba looked stunned.

Shikamaru shook his head. He supposed he should have known better. Naruto was the one person who could stump him on a regular basis. He should have seen the signs when using the tags he made. They were exceptional. Most tags bought from one of the dealers in town had a few quirks, depending on who made them. Some took a little longer to detonate than they should, others would run the gambit of sizes of explosion. Some failed to ignite altogether. Naruto's however, were always dependable. Add to that the fact that he had modified the Fourth's Hiraishin with seals actually carved into the blade of the kunai, pieced together just from descriptions in scattered notes, and Shikamaru came up with one total. Naruto was becoming a seal master at an even younger age than the Fourth had.

Shikamaru was brought out of his mental wanderings by the sound of cloth being rolled up. Soon Naruto was tying the giant storage scroll (for that's what it now was) on his back.

"Let's go. My co-conspirator in the ANBU is going to go off shift soon. We need to be in and out before the shift change."

The group took off for the tower without a sound. Lee and Kiba were making horrible strangling sounds as they tried to choke down their laughter. Sasuke's black eyes were shining with amusement over his mask. Choji was chuckling, and Neji and Shino hadn't gone home yet, so they were at least interested in how this turned out. Shikamaru wouldn't have left for the world. The air all around them was charged. Now they knew why Naruto had done this for years. This was fun!

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Naruto couldn't help but get caught up in this moment. He hadn't done this in so long that he hadn't realized how much he missed it. Back then, his pranks had been cries for attention, but he had had a pretty good time getting that attention. And this wasn't even the best part. The best part would be in the morning when Baa-chan got to her office. Things might get a little crazy after that, but he would have fun with that too.

He felt the positive energy around him. He was glad even the skeptics seemed to be having a good time now. He had always been alone growing up. It wasn't until he had been placed on Team Seven that he had discovered teamwork, and learned to relish it. Crave it even. And now here he was, working with his friends, not in battle, but on a prank.

Life just didn't get better than this.

They landed of the last roof closest the Hokage's tower. They paused for a moment and Naruto felt the air displacement that meant someone had appeared out of the shadows and was now standing next to him.

"You do know that when you're pleading for your life in the morning, that my name never comes up, right?" Yamato said conversationally.

" In and out in thirty seconds. We were never here, and neither were you."

"Good, because all she has to do is look at that roster and schedule I gave you, then my ass is in trouble. If she gets me first, I'm making sure you go down with me, Naruto"

"That's why I made some changes to the roster. You, Wolfy, were never on duty tonight."

Yamato laughed. "Never miss a beat, do you Naruto?"

Naruto looked up at the wolf masked ANBU. "Trust me Yamato-taicho, you're scary enough when you're not wearing that mask. Sasuke, Shikamaru, you guys come with me. The rest of you, keep your eyes peeled and warn us if anything looks suspicious. See ya later Yamato. Hopefully I'm not in a coma when you see me next." Naruto adjusted the scroll on his back." Let's go."

With the ANBU on duty a party to the scheme, getting into Tsunade's office was almost uneventful. Naruto unrolled the scroll and made sure it was centered in the middle of the room, where the cart would make the most impact, and be the most in the way. He bit his thumb and smeared the blood across the seal. With a poof of smoke, the Hokage's office suddenly acquired a very large, very smelly, accessory.

"Hey Naruto," Shikamaru whispered." I have a question. Tsunade-sama's not too bad with seals herself. What's to stop her from sealing the cart back up within thirty seconds of her arriving."

Naruto winked at him smugly. "She is good with seals. That's why I keyed it to myself, my blood. If she wants the cart out of her office, she's going to have to find me first, and I plan on getting a head start before she comes after me."

Shikamaru snorted. "You know, I swear you're some kind of masochist or something. You just ask for it."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it."

The three of them rejoined the rest of the group, and they ran a few blocks before slowing down and removing their masks and hoods.

"Naruto, that was an acceptable diversion from routine," said Shino.

"Translation, he enjoyed himself," said Kiba.

"Your welcome, Shino," Naruto replied, feeling pretty good about this night..

After all, from an Aburame, that was high praise indeed.

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They were approaching the gate to the compound, with Naruto in the lead, when he looked up and choked. Sakura was standing right in the middle of the gate with her arms crossed. From this distance, he couldn't tell what kind of mood she was in. What he could tell was that she was wearing one of his tank tops over the pants she usually slept in, and it was really distracting him from trying to tell what kind of mood she was in.

As he walked up to her, he saw with a sinking feeling that she appeared rather put out.

"Here it comes, he's going to get it now," he heard Kiba mutter to Lee.

Sakura marched up to him and grabbed the front of his jacket. Yanking his head down, she kissed him, then said, "Next time, you better take me with you." And with that she headed back toward the main house and his room.

He really was the luckiest guy in the world.

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**That was fun. This was based off a prank I orchestrated in high school where we dismantled a rather large utility cart and reassembled it inside a small closet. Took my teacher most of the period to get it out.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here ya go! Chase scenes and more pranks. What more could you want?**

**I don't own Naruto. If I did, it would definitely have a happy ending.**

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"Another fun filled morning on gate duty. Izumo, why do we always get stuck with this?"

"I don't know. Maybe they think I like listening to you bitch all morning." Kamizuki Izumo replied absently, way too used to his friend's complaining to give it more of a response.

Hagane Kotetsu rolled his eyes and let his forehead fall with a "thunk" onto the counter in front of him. "There hasn't been anyone through this gate in the past two hours. There's never anyone this early in the morning." He looked at his best friend with what he hoped was a pitiful expression. "Is it too much to ask for a little excitement. Just a little."

"Whenever you say that, something bad happens. "I want excitement" and poof, a giant snake crashes through the wall. "I want excitement" and poof, Uchiha Itachi strolls through the gate and screws with our brains. You're jinxed."

"I am not. It doesn't happen every time."

"It happens enough. Ask anyone. I'm sure Shikamaru could give you the stats."

"Hey, what's up guys? What are we arguing about now? Kotetsu say he wants excitement again?" The two elite Chuunin looked up to see their friend and sometimes Jounin commander, Shiranui Genma, looking at them curiously. "I thought we told you not to do that? Every time you do something bad happens."

Izumo looked triumphant. "See?"

"You're going to believe him over me?"

The argument continued for a few seconds more before all three of them became aware of a commotion going on in the center of the village, a commotion that seemed to be coming their way. Fast. Distant yelling was accompanied by small explosions and earth shuddering impacts. The three shinobi jumped to the middle of the road, prepared to assist with…whatever was happening. Izumo and Kotetsu raised their swords, and Genma put his hand to his pouch of kunai. As the noise came closer, and grew louder, they were envisioning a squad of ANBU chasing a spy, a saboteur, an escaped S-class criminal.

A cloud of dust rolled out around the corner at the end of the road, and they braced themselves. A second later a blur of yellow, black and orange dove out of the cloud and dashed toward them.

"Hey," asked Kotetsu, straightening up slightly and lowering his sword." Isn't that Uzumaki?"

"The one and only," said Genma, starting to get an idea of what was going on.

Naruto came barreling down the street, covered in dust and laughing manically. "Gangway! Look out! Pissed off old lady chasing me! Might want to move guys!"

"Old lady?! Come back here you little bastard, you're really in trouble now!" The Hokage came from out of nowhere and ax kicked at the fleeing blond, leaving a dent in the road and throwing up more dust. Naruto leapt forward and rolled out of the way, bounced back on his feet and kept running. "Get back here and get that damn cart out of my office! It's going to take weeks to get the smell out!"

"Maybe it will give you incentive to get your work done faster, Baachan! I'm doing you and Shizune-niichan a favor!" Naruto taunted over his shoulder.

The three shinobi at the gate dove out of the way as the two tore past. Genma came up laughing as he watched his son's godfather run for his life. "Run, man, run! She's gaining on you!"

They saw Naruto put on another burst of speed, trying to reach the safety of the forest, but Tsunade clipped him on the shoulder a moment later and he stumbled and fetched up with his back against a tree just outside the gate. He put a hand to his ear and turned on a communicator . "Sasuke! Throw it!" Tsunade was stalking toward him, radiating killing intent. " Hurry! Throw it, throw it, throw it!

Tsunade seemed to realize what he was saying at that point. "Oh, don't you even think about it!"

"See ya around, Baachan." Naruto smirked, threw Tsunade a jaunty salute, and with a yellow flash, vanished.

"Naruto!! Now where did you go!? Damn Hirashin. Now I have to find him _and _Uchiha."

The three observers started sniggering, then laughing as she stood there muttering to herself, which died off to nervous chuckles as the Hokage drew back her fist and punched a hole right through the trunk of the tree her prey had been leaning on. They shut up as she walked back through the gate, still leaking a murderous chakra. She stopped and glared at them.

"What are you three doing just standing around? Get to work! Get these divots in the road filled in. Not just that one, but all of them in between here and the tower." Izumo and Kotatsu's faces fell, as Genma smirked. "That goes for all three of you, Shiranui."

With that she stomped back in the direction of her office.

Kotetsu groaned. "Why is it always us? He noticed Izumo and Genma looking at him strangely, and looked back at them. "What?" Then in a squirmy tone. "What?" Their expressions didn't waiver. "Ok fine, I won't say it anymore."

----------------------------------------------------

"Whoo, that was close! Good timing, buddy."

Sasuke just shook his head as he took in Naruto's bruised, dust covered appearance as he slid his back down the wall and sat next to him. "I think Shikamaru's right, you do have a death wish."

"Hey, she hasn't killed me yet, she likes me too much. Though I think I'm going to have to have Sakura look at my shoulder, she clipped me a good one." Naruto rotated his arm thoughtfully, then leaned back against the wall they were hiding behind, one of the outer walls to the Uchiha compound, and relaxed in the warm sun.

The two sat companionably for awhile, not saying anything and not really needing to. Their friendship had reached the stage of not needing many words long ago. But today Naruto wanted his brother's opinions on some things. "So, what do you think about all this?"

Sasuke cracked an eye open. "What do I think about what?"

"You know. The whole me and Sakura getting married thing. I haven't heard much about it from you. Practically everyone else, but not you."

Sasuke closed his eye." It's obvious you two are happy. Why would it matter what I think?"

"You're my brother, one of the few family I have left. Of course what you think matters!"

Sasuke sighed, shifted around so that he was facing Naruto. "Ok, what's the matter?"

Naruto was taken aback. "What?"

"There's got to be some reason you're asking me this. I think you're the one having the issues."

Naruto stammered out a half hearted denial, but Sasuke knew better. Just asking a question like the one he just asked was the Naruto equivalent of freaking out. Sasuke settled down to listen.

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Lady Tsunade sat in a tree not far from where her two young Jounin were talking. It hadn't taken her long to find them, and had been about to pounce, when she noticed the seriousness of their conversation. So she just sat quietly and listened for awhile.

By the sounds of it, what Sakura had told her a couple of days ago was right. Naruto was still freaking out a bit. Unfortunately, he was talking to Sasuke, who was just about as clueless as Naruto when it came to this kind of thing, though Tsunade was glad Naruto had someone to bounce thoughts off of at least. She sighed. If this was a perfect world, Naruto would have had his father to talk to about marriage and such. Or his godfather, though she shuddered to think what kind of advice he would have gotten from Jiraiya. But even that would have better than listening to these two orphans trying to figure things out. In some ways, it was sort of pathetic.

Tsunade shook herself back to reality. Her musings weren't getting the giant, stinking cart that evidently only one person could get rid of out of her office. She still couldn't believe the gaki had actually drawn up that seal. A, something that big should have been near on to impossible to put in a seal, no matter how big the damn scroll was. B, she should have been able to get rid of the bloody thing herself. It wasn't until she had tried several times, did she realize that only the seal's creator could make it work. Anyone with chakra should be able to trigger any storage scroll. Theoretically.

The problem was, she just didn't want to admit that there was something else he was better at than her.

Tsunade gathered herself and leapt, to land right in front of the two. She wanted both Naruto and his accomplice, and was prepared for them to scatter. Sasuke did bolt, and though she tried to grab him, she had forgotten that you never really saw Uchiha Sasuke move, with his speed he just appeared. Or, in this case, disappeared. She gave up on Uchiha and looked wildly around for her main target, then realized that he hadn't even bothered moving from his spot. That alone should have tipped her off.

"What, aren't you going to run?"

"Nah, too tired."

"Too tired, my ass."

"Just a lot on my mind, I guess."

Tsunade softened a bit. " You know, I may not have the most experience when it comes to some things, but you know you can talk to me whenever you need to, right?"

He smiled. "Sure, Baachan."

The smile faded as the Hokage leaned down, gripped the front of his vest and hauled him up to eye level. " But only if you get your butt over to my office right now and get rid of that cart," she growled. She took her fist and bopped him on the head. A second later she was standing in a cloud of smoke and holding empty air.

It had been a damn clone the whole time. She had forgotten the one major rule with Naruto. The one you finally caught was never the real one.

"Naruto!!"

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Sakura and the other kunoichi were sitting out on the porch of the house she and Ino shared. Actually, Ino had it to herself most of the time these days, as she spent most of her time in Naruto's room in the main house now. But this porch got the best sun, and that was where the four of them had parked themselves this morning, dressed in various sunbathing attire. Sakura still had a pretty good tan going from her not so relaxing vacation, and she didn't want to lose it, especially since she didn't know what her mother was digging up for her to get married in.

"Naruto!!"

They all glanced up at Tsunade's enraged yell from the other side of the compound.

They looked at each other. "Clone."

Ino pulled her sunglasses down. "Think he'll keep it up for much longer?"

"He was going to let her catch "him" a couple times while the real him goes to clean up her office."

Tenten chuckled. "That's good, 'cause if he kept it up for much longer, you'd have to postpone the wedding until he gets out of traction. I think she's out for blood this time."

Sakura laughed at the mental image. "That would be fine, he's worth the wait. Especially since I know what's under the casts."

Ino, who had just taken a sip of sweet tea, did an ode to the gods of the spit-take. "Damn Sakura, give a girl some warning before you say something like that! Some of us are still trying to get used to this whole you and Naruto thing."

"What's to get used to? We've been dating for over a year, and were really good friends for years before that. Is it that hard to believe we're getting married?"

Ino, Tenten, and Hinata looked at each other, then looked at her. "Yes!"

"There was the yelling," said Ino.

"The smacking," added Tenten.

"The punching into walls," chimed Hinata.

Sakura could feel herself blushing. " That was when we were twelve. That was also before I knew that all of that idiotic behavior of his was just an act. You know as well as I do that the Naruto we know now is completely different." She heard another yell, this time from the direction of the tower. "Well, almost completely different."

"Well anyways, the boys had their fun last night, if you could call it that. You do realize that we're going have to one up them, right?" said Ino seriously.

" And how do you suggest we do that? I hope this won't involve pissing off the Hokage too." Hinata shuddered.

"No no, nothing like that. That's Naruto's idea of a good time. He likes pain." Ino leered at Sakura, making her blush again." No, we have to send Sakura off to married life with a different kind of bang." She sat in thought several minutes, before what could be called a truly evil grin spread across her face. " I was passing through this village once and saw a club that I wanted to check out. It's only about a day away. We could travel there and spend the night in an inn. Come on guys, it'll be fun, it'll be fun!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Ino, I know that look, and just going to a club in another village wouldn't put it on your face. We have perfectly good clubs here. What are you planning?"

She ignored the question. "What about you two," she asked Hinata and Tenten, "you in?"

The two teammates looked at each other. Hinata shrugged. "Sure, why not? What could happen?"

Sakura groaned slightly. _Famous last words._

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"Ino!" Sakura hissed. "You didn't tell us the club was in another friggin country."

"Oh come on, it's just Rice Country. Nothing ever happens here now that Oto isn't around anymore."

"Yes, but you do know who is controlling Rice Country right now, don't you?" Hinata was peering through the leaves of the branch she was on. "We're not exactly on the best of terms with Taki at the moment, either."

"That's what's fun about it!"

Tenten looked over at the blond from her tree. "Thought you said pain was Naruto's thing? You know what's going to happen if any Taki shinobi happen to find out where we're from? Especial Sakura, considering she's in a couple of bingo books. Now I like a fight as much as the next girl, but this is an incident waiting to happen."

While Konoha's ongoing issues with Iwa were, to quote Shikamaru, beyond troublesome, Waterfall had also been nibbling at Fire Country's borders more then was sane for such a small country. Then they had started this current quiet occupation of Rice Field Country. There was no looting, rape, or rioting in the streets, and Rice Country's Damiyo seemed content to let things go for awhile to see what happens. It wasn't known whether Taki was just being its usual overconfident self, or something else was stirring them up. Right now it was just a staring contest over the border, but that could always change.

So their current position, several miles into Rice Country, looking down on a medium to large village, was sort of insane.

"Ino, this is what we traveled all day for? We might have well have stayed home and pranked the Hokage, 'cause when she hears about this, she's going to kill us anyway." _Not to mention Naruto_, Sakura thought to herself. "I know I've said this before, but you're crazy."

"Ha! And you're marring the emperor of crazy. Consider this training."

Sakura heard Tenten sigh. "Unfortunately, if the guys find out we came all this way only to chicken out, we'll never hear the end of it. Hinata?"

Sakura noticed that Hinata had that obstinate look she'd been getting a lot lately. Kiba was definitely rubbing off on the once shy woman. "Lets do it."

"Yes! Sorry Sakura, you're outvoted! Lets go!" Ino yelled and dropped from her branch. The rest followed, with Sakura bringing up a reluctant rear. Looks like she was going to have to be the voice of reason on this little field trip.

The four of them gathered on the road and began walking casually toward the town. They had carefully dressed in civilian clothes, and not even their usual civilian clothes ,but plainer outfits. They each carried a small pack, so hopefully they looked like nothing more than a group of friends from a farming village just coming into town for a good time.

Suddenly Ino stopped. "Oh crap, I almost forgot. Here Hinata, put these on." And she held out a pair of sunglasses.

" Huh? Why do I….? Uh uh ! No way, Ino! It's almost dark. I'm going to look pretty stupid wearing these."

"Yeah, but the only thing we can't hide or change are those big white balls in the middle of your face. Sakura and I can dress different, Tenten can let down her hair, but you can't dance with your eyes closed. And you can't use a henge in case we run into another Jounin. Any shinobi, no matter what country they're from, is going to know a Hyuuga when they see them."

Hinata muttered a phrase that Sakura knew for a fact she got from Kiba. "Alright, fine give 'em."

She put on the large shades, and the rest of them instantly started trying to hide their giggles.

"Oh my god, Ino. Did you steal those from your grandmother or something?" Sakura snorted.

"They were the only ones I could find that would completely cover her eyes," Ino replied innocently.

"I am so going to get you for this Yamanaka," Hinata growled.

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Sakura's worries seemed to be for nothing, as they were barely given a second glance as they checked into a small inn near Ino's mythical night club. They did, however, get more than a few glances as they emerged again a couple hours later, not to mention the wolf whistle from the young man running the desk of their inn.

Sakura was in a low cut red dress she had picked up in Crescent Moon. It went to her knees, but was split up both sides to show the skin tight black leather leggings underneath. Calf high black boots completed the image. Ino had gone for more of a shock factor, as her dress was practically nonexistent. Sakura had thought her dress was low cut, but Ino's barely contained her assets. It was a purple so dark it was almost black, and came with a sort of fingerless glove that went to her elbows. She also wore a pair of stiletto heels that Sakura was sure she would break her neck if she tried to walk in them. Tenten's outfit was on par with what the weapons mistress usually wore. It was a silk Chinese style wraparound tunic/dress, in a rich chocolate brown with two silver embroidered dragons coming over the shoulders. The dragon's tails entwined in a complex knot on the back. Small sliver buttons fastened it in the front. It came to about mid thigh on her, showing off her long, slim legs. Her dark brown hair had been left loose to cascade down her back. Hinata was dressed the simplest of all of them, in a slim black dress with no ornamentation. With her generous figure, however, it really wasn't needed. Between the four of them, they had cobbled together some accessories that actually made the clunky sunglasses look more trendy than ridiculous, though it didn't stop her from complaining about them. Her long hair was braided into a single thick plait down her back, with a tendril hanging on either side of her face.

The four of them walked the couple blocks to the club. Sakura could see why this place had caught Ino's attention. It was loud, flashy, and colorful, and that was just the outside. After they had paid their cover and entered, they waded through the throng of people on the dance floor and made their way to the bar. It was very busy, so they ordered a few drinks each to tide them over for awhile. They made their way to a table and sat down. Ino held up her glass.

"To Sakura, who, after all she has been through, is about to take on the toughest trial of her life. Naruto. Kanpai!"

They all laughed and clinked their glasses. "Kanpai!"

Sakura started to relax. Here with her friends, maybe this trip had been a good idea. After talking together for a bit, they drifted apart to find activities that suited them. Sakura and Ino headed for the dance floor, dark and crisscrossed with thin multicolored lights, to gyrate with the music. After dancing for the better part of an hour, they took a break and returned to their table. Looking around, Sakura saw Hinata sitting with a small group of people who were so boisterous and good natured, that they sucked other people into their good time. She didn't see Tenten anywhere, but could sense her somewhere nearby. After another drink she and Ino returned to the dance floor. This set the pattern for the next few hours.

It wasn't until later, when Sakura and Ino were just heading back from the restroom that things got interesting.

They had just stepped out of the hallway, when she noticed a man standing by the bar. There were some shinobi who were excellent at suppressing their chakra, and this guy was one of them, but no one could hide from a medic of her caliber. His very being screamed "Jounin" to Sakura's finely tuned senses. He had a small book in his hand, and he kept glancing at it and looking around. She was willing to bet it was a bingo book.

Ino was oblivious to all this and didn't notice when her companion froze in her tracks. Sakura grabbed for her as she went sailing past, and snagged the front of her dress, dragging her behind her as she ducked behind a sort of decorative room divider.

"Sakura!" Ino yelped. "I almost had a serious wardrobe malfunction! What the fu-!"

"Shhh!" Sakura hissed." Shut up and look over there by the bar."

Ino craned her neck so she could get an eye over the wall. "Yeaaaah? What about him?"

"How much have you had to drink? He's a Jounin."

"A Jounin? Are you sure?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. Ino sighed. "Ok, you're sure. So now what? You know, he might not be looking for us."

Sakura peeked. "He had a bingo book open and now he's showing it to the bartender. Even if he's not looking for us exactly, he still might recognize us. I think it might be time to get out of here. At least head back to the inn."

Ino pouted a little, but agreed. "Where are Tenten and Hinata?"

Sakura risked a quick look around. "Hinata is dancing with that group she met. I haven't seen Tenten for a while."

Some patrons chose that moment the stage a mass trip to the restrooms, and looked strangely at the two women crouched on the floor. Even though there was really nothing funny about the situation, Sakura and Ino started giggling madly. It took them a few minutes to regain control, as every time they looked at each other, it set them off again.

Ino wiped some tears from her eyes. "All right, I'll go get shade girl while you look for Tenten. Once you find her, head to the front door and we'll meet you there. Stay down as much as you can. You're the recognizable one."

"Unless Hinata starts dancing too hard and looses those glasses." That started them giggling again as they split up.

Sakura started to work her way around the edge of the room, sticking to deep shadows when she could and suppressing her chakra as far as it could go. After a few minutes of scanning, she finally spotted Tenten sitting at a small table. The young man sitting across from her had his back to Sakura, but his long brown hair gave her a start. For a moment she almost thought Neji had somehow followed them. As she got closer, however, she could see that it wasn't Neji, but the resemblance was close enough for him to have gotten Tenten's attention. "_That's predictable_," Sakura thought as she circled around to where Tenten could see her. She got the sharp eyed girls attention and started to signal her in simple hand signs.

"Trouble. Meet up. Leaving area."

Tenten gave her a slow nod and wrapped up her conversation. Soon she had joined Sakura in the deep shadow of a plant. "What's up?"

"There's a Jounin with a bingo book looking around and asking questions. I don't know if he's looking for us exactly, but I don't want to take any chances. We're heading back to the inn."

Tenten quickly agreed, and as the two made their way toward the exit, Sakura noticed a kunai suddenly appear in her hand. She stopped. "Tenten, do I want to know where you've been keeping that thing in that outfit?"

Tenten grinned. " Probably not."

Sakura could accept that.

Ino and Hinata were waiting in a concealed spot near the door, and evidently they were finding _something _pretty funny. They could barely contain themselves. Sakura and Tenten looked at them curiously. "What?"

Ino took a deep breath, glanced at Sakura, and started cracking up again. "You know, we _could _stay. I don't think we have anything to worry about with that Jounin."

She was making even less sense than usual. "Why not?"

"As Hinata and I were heading up here, he stopped us. We were suppressing our chakra, so he didn't even look at us closely, but he asked us some questions. It is a Taki bingo book he is showing around, and yes he is looking for you, Sakura. Some one told him that they thought they saw you come in here."

"And why exactly is that funny?"

Ino started laughing again, and Hinata took up the story. "I guess Taki couldn't find a very good picture of you for their book, so they got someone to paint one of you."

"It was hideous!" Ino gasped out. "Made you look kind of like that weird Karin girl that Sasuke knows. Or the love child of her and a Akimichi, the woman in the picture must have weighed 300 pounds. And had red hair. Not pink, red. You could probably walk up to that guy and introduce yourself, and he wouldn't recognize you."

Sakura was torn between amusement and annoyance. Amusement that someone could get something so wrong, and annoyance that some people might actually think she looked like that. But something else was coming to mind, the little joker side that she had always had, and that Naruto was bringing out more. "What do you say we mess with this guy a bit?"

Ino stopped giggling. "Mess with him? How? I thought you were the one that didn't want any incidents."

"I don't. But trust me, he won't even know what hit him. If he's looking for Haruno Sakura, I say we give her to him."

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"_This sucks_," Hachiro thought to himself. First, this was supposed to be his night off. He could have been at this very club right now, but enjoying himself rather than looking for a supposed Konoha nin. Second, his superior had been going on a very vague description from a Gennin, who had participated in the last chuunin exam in Konoha. And failed, incedently. According to him, he had seen Haruno Sakura, a Jounin kunoichi and the Hokage's apprentice, walk into this club.

Personally, Hachiro thought that the very idea was ludicrous. First of all, why in hell would a Konoha nin come all this way to go to a club. Second, he should have been able to sense another Jounin in here, and so far was coming up blank. He had the best chakra control of his age group, so he shouldn't have tipped off another shinobi of his presence.

Unfortunately, he had only been a Jounin for a few weeks, and that meant he still got some grunt work. He looked at the picture in his bingo book. This chick should really stand out. She looked kind of hard to miss. None of the bartenders had seen anyone who looked remotely like the picture. This was a waste of his time.

He scanned the crowd again, sensing a sudden surge in chakra, and she was there. Where had she come from? There _was_ no missing her. Red hair, and huge. He started to make his way across the dance floor, weaving his way gracefully between the wildly dancing people. He lost her for a moment when she sat down at a corner table. Gotcha! Hachiro made it through the crowd and rushed up to confront… the beautiful platinum blond woman in a dark purple dress who was the only one sitting at the table. He blinked a few times. She cocked her head teasingly and looked up at him with a coquettish look in her blue eyes. "Did you need help with something?"

"Uh.. No. Sorry to bother you." He spun around at another surge of chakra and saw the large red haired woman again, this time heading for the restroom. He didn't know how she got past him, but he had her now, that was a dead end. He waded back across the dance floor, this time a little less gracefully, and crept down the hallway to the women's restroom. After a few moments the door started to open, and Hachiro braced himself. The door opened all the way, he crouched and jumped in front of…a young woman in a brown Chinese style dress, who yelped and automatically whapped him across the head.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you some kind of pervert or something?" Hachiro felt himself blushing and stammered an apology as the woman stomped past him. He looked around cautiously and poked his head in the restroom. There was no one else in there. For good measure, he looked in the men's room. You never knew. But it was empty as well.

"Hachiro, you are losing your mind," he muttered to himself. He felt more chakra and reluctantly looked over. There she was dancing right in the middle of the crowd. This was getting ridiculous. For some reason she was wearing these thick sunglasses, thought the dance floor was pretty dark. Hachiro started shoving his way toward his target, and just as he got near, her sunglasses fell off and she ducked beneath the crowd to retrieve them. He dove over the last few people in his way, and landed on a young woman in a slim black dress. She was wearing sunglasses. As he sat straddling her, she looked up at him and screamed. Loudly.

Hachiro jumped up as the crowd around him started growling and muttering. "Sorry, sorry! Tripped! Here let me help you up." He pulled the woman to her feet and beat a hasty retreat. He was leaning up against a pillar, catching his breath a few minutes later. What the hell was going on? He considered himself a pretty steady shinobi. He had completed his chuunin exam in Kiri for kami's sake! That took guts. But right now he was so turned around it was freaking him out. So when he felt that tell tale surge of chakra again, he groaned. He would have almost rather retake his chuunin exam than go investigate again. But somehow he gathered up what was left of his pride and looked around. There. Going out the front door.

Hachiro followed the woman until she crossed the street in front of the club. He had her in his sights and out of that god forsaken club. "Haruno Sakura!" he yelled.

He rushed into the street just as a large cart passed in front of him, blocking his view momentarily.

No! "Haruno Sakura!"

The cart passed, leaving him looking at a young athletic looking young woman with cherry blossom hued hair in a red dress. She looked at him curiously. "Yes?"

Hachiro wasn't going to be distracted. He scanned the area with all his senses. No sign of his target. "Haruno Sakura, where did you go?"

"I'm standing right here. Now who are you and what do you want?"

He looked at the pink haired woman. "Haruno Sakura?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

Hachiro pulled out his bingo book and turned to the right page. There was the picture. There was the name. He was getting a migraine. The young woman who looked nothing like the picture in the book and who was not radiating an ounce of chakra was still standing in front of him impatiently.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

The girl cocked an eyebrow. "Are you feeling all right. You're awful pale."

He grimaced. "Just having a bad night."

--------------------------------------

Sakura watched the young Jounin walk slowly away, muttering to himself about stiff drinks and psychiatric help. She turned and crossed the street back to the club, where her friends were in the entryway on the ground laughing.

Sakura grinned as they went back inside. "I think we broke that poor guy. You know, if Taki ever starts something with us, we could claim the first victory, Konoha kunoichi:1 Taki shinobi:0."

As it should be.

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**See you next time. Wedding Bells!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I tried to follow a traditional Shinto ceremony for the wedding. I apologize in advance if I mangled it too badly.**

**As usual, don't own, so sad**

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"Tap-tap-tap-tap……..tap-tap-tap-tap…….tap-tap-tap-tap."

"I'll give you 500ryo to make him stop," Shikamaru leaned over and whispered to his companion.

Sasuke smirked slightly and, without even opening his eyes, reached out and snagged the obi of Naruto's kimono as he paced by again in his wooden zori, and pulled him down to sit on a seat next to him.

Tap-tap-tap-"wha!"

Kakashi and Iruka muttered appreciatively from their places. Naruto opened his mouth to give some indignant response, then snapped it shut and sat fuming silently.

Shikamaru sighed in relief. While technically everyone waiting here in this small anteroom was playing some part in the wedding, they were also here to make sure the groom didn't try to bolt again. Ino, Tenten, Hinata, and Shizune were doing the same with Sakura while they helped her with her elaborate robes.

Both Naruto and Sakura had wanted a small wedding, just family and their closest friends. Unfortunately, while meaning well, Sakura's mother had taken the bit in her teeth and was steadily turning it into a three ring circus. She had booked the largest Shinto shrine in the village. Somehow half of said village seemed to be invited. There was a photographer. There was a master of ceremonies.

"Now all we need is some clowns," Shikamaru thought.

As the time for the wedding got closer, the couple had gotten quieter and quieter, until yesterday, when they had made a concerted effort to elope. Then all hell had broke loose. Haruno Hanako had discovered a note from Sakura saying that they were going to go off and have their quiet wedding and that they were very sorry for any inconvenience. Haruno-san had then gone to the Hokage. Tsunade had very reluctantly sent Shikamaru and his team to round up the two. By that time, Naruto and Sakura had made it clear to the next village.

Knowing what Sakura's mother had turning this "small " wedding into, Shikamaru hadn't been sure he wanted to catch them. He had managed (somehow) to talk them into coming back. Now he was wishing he had been more of a friend and helped them escape. They had come quietly, but neither had been happy about it.

Shikamaru knew part of the problem was Naruto's aversion to being made a spectacle of. For someone who had gone out of his way to be noticed when he was young, Naruto was now very leery of too much attention. He was on much better terms with the village than he had been a few years ago, but old habits died hard. Sakura was no doubt picking up on his distress. That, and the fact that her mother was driving her crazy, had made them decide that eloping sounded like a pretty good idea.

It bothered Shikamaru and the rest of the Twelve, seeing what their friends were going through. This should be a happy day for both Naruto and Sakura, and they were miserable. Shikamaru sighed again. There was only one thing to do. It was going to be a bother, it was going to get some people mad at him, but then, what wasn't?

"That's it," he announced. "I cant take this anymore. I'll be right back."

The four other men in the room looked up at him in surprise as he walked out the door. It didn't take him long to track down the Hokage and have a little talk with her. She readily agreed with his plan and made a discreet exit. Next he went to "check some decorations" at the front of the shrine. While there, he began throwing some subtle hand signs at the shinobi in the seats. He glanced up and got some signs back from Kiba and Shino, so he knew his message had reached the right people. There would soon be a slow exodus of most of the ninja in the crowd.

His next destination was the room where Sakura was being held capti- er, getting ready. Knowing it was probably a bad idea and was most likely going to get him injured in some way, he cracked open the door and tentatively peeked in. Luckily, all he saw was the back of a white and red kimono. He quickly reached in and snagged the person and drew her out the door. To his relief he got Shizune and not Ino, who would have been screeching at him already.

"Bring Sakura to the compound without anyone seeing her. We're making a break for it."

Shizune brightened up in relief. "That's great! I don't know how Naruto is doing, but Sakura is getting a little scary."

"He hasn't reached the scary point yet, which is why I'm doing this now."

Shizune laughed and went back inside, where it got very quiet.

Shikamaru headed back to where he left the guys, appropriating a large cloth drapery on the way. When he stepped in the room, he saw Naruto right where he had left him, zoning moodily in a chair in the corner. Shikamaru walked casually over to where Sasuke, Iruka, and Kakashi were lounging on a bench and tried to sign the basics of his plan, as he couldn't even whisper with Naruto in the room. Unfortunately, all he got were some blank looks. He sighed. Some people had no imagination. He hoped they would just follow his lead. And that he wouldn't get too hurt doing what he was about to do.

_It's now or never. _

He was only going to have one shot at this, and he was going to have to be fast. Shikamaru quickly stepped across the room and, before his victim even realized anything was happening, threw the cloth over Naruto's head. That got an instant reaction, and Shikamaru threw his arms around him as he shot up and started trying to free himself. The others in the room just stared at the unexpected entertainment in shock.

"Wh-What the hell, Shika! I'm not in the mood for this right now!" came the slightly muffled voice.

"I know you're not, that's why I'm doing it! Now hold still you big baby! Come on guys, give me a hand, we're getting out of here."

Kakashi, Iruka, and Sasuke glanced at each other, than jumped up and started to wrap the still struggling figure securely in the cloth. In a few seconds the four of them had him hoisted onto their shoulders and were quickstepping their way out of the room, out of the shrine, past the oblivious guests, and across the village.

"Am I allowed to know where you're taking me, or is it a surprise?" came a snarky voice from inside the wrapping.

"Don't worry. Trust me," Shikamaru muttered.

"It's hard to when you've got me trussed up like roast."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and smacked the area where his brother's head should be. " I guess we had to get you past the crowd," he said, bringing himself up to speed with Shikamaru's plan. "Some of the guests would have noticed if we put up a Genjutsu."

"But-"

"Naruto, would you please shut up! Us talking to a bolt of cloth is going to start looking pretty weird in a moment."

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Naruto was barely holding on to his patience. He had already been stressed, and now he was pretty damn confused as well.

He had been looking forward to this day all week, but things had gone all pear shaped in a hurry. He had taken one look at the seeming endless guest list and all the ceremony that had been planned, and promptly freaked. He hated himself for pushing his fears onto Sakura, but he hadn't been able to help himself. So when yesterday Sakura had suggested they just leave and get married somewhere else, he had jumped at the chance. They had nearly made it to the next village when Shikamaru had caught up to them. Fortunately for Sakura's mother, Shikamaru was one of the few people he listened to without question. After that, he had pretty much resigned himself to his fate.

But now, for some inexplicable reason, that same friend that he respected so much had him wrapped like a piece of meat at a butcher shop and was carting him across the village to some unknown destination. On his wedding day, no less. The cloth he had been wrapped in seemed to be part of the temple, and was soaked in the overpowering scent of incense, so that was one sense down. It was very thick cloth, so he couldn't see anything either. By the muffled sounds, he knew was being dragged through the market, and he also knew when Choji, Kiba, Lee, and Neji joined the rest of his kidnappers.

"Shino's still making sure everyone who needed to got the message, so he'll catch up." said Kiba.

Message? He was really confused now. If they didn't get to their destination and someone tell him what was going on soon, they were going to owe the temple a new alter cloth. And it wasn't going to be his fault.

Suddenly his bearers slowed down, and he could hear the sounds of many feet on a graveled path. There was another group converging on theirs, and Naruto couldn't take it anymore. His claustrophobia started to mix with his frustration, and he snapped. Wind chakra blades spun from the palms of his hands, and in one motion he slashed open his cocoon and rolled foreword off of the supporting shoulders and landed in a crouch behind them. The motion threw off the balance of the four carrying him, and they landed in a cursing heap, tangled in the now shredded cloth.

"What's the matter love, don't you like surprises?" came a voice from behind him.

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Sakura really loved her mother, as she had to keep reminding herself, but she could get so focused that nothing else could get through to her. Even them trying to make a break for it hadn't slowed her down for long. She had laughed at Sakura and said it was nothing but pre-wedding jitters. All she could do at that point was go down to one of the training grounds and destroy things for a while. And even that didn't help.

Her friends were desperately trying to cheer her up as they helped her dress, but it wasn't working. She was just too stressed. She barely noticed when Shizune was pulled from the room. When she came back in a second later, she had a mischievous look on her face. " Come on girls, were getting out of here."

Sakura looked at her like she had suddenly grown two heads. "Huh?"

"Were heading over to the shrine on the compound. Tsunade-sama is going to meet us there with the priest, and Shikamaru and the rest of the guys are going to bring Naruto. Unless you would rather stay here and deal with this circus?"

"Woohoo!" Ino screeched. "Shika comes through!"

Sakura was still slightly stunned. "You mean sneak out of here and have a small ceremony at the compound? " Excitement coursed through her. "What are we waiting for!"

"Whoa girl! Slow down! We need to get you past the rest of the crowd out there with nobody seeing you."

Sakura was already thinking. "Simple. I'll just layer some Genjutsus around us. They wont even know we're there." That said, Sakura got down to work. The bottom layer would be a chakra suppresser, so none of the shinobi outside would pick up on them. When anyone looked at the top layer, all they would see is four young kunoichi walking out of the room saying they needed a drink. No one would suspect that Sakura was walking out with them.

Once the Genjutsus were in place, it only took them a matter of minutes to walk out the door and exit the shrine. On her way out, she got a glimpse of her mother near the alter, and was hit with rumbling guilt pains, but her heart and mind were telling her that this was the right thing to do, both for herself and for Naruto. She wondered how the guys were getting him out, as none of them were that good at the right kind of Genjutsu.

She got her answer as they approached the compound and saw Kakashi and Iruka's backs just entering the gate. They seemed to be carrying a large rolled bolt of cloth on their shoulders, and she had a pretty good idea who was in there. How the hell had they gotten him to agree with that? Naruto was still kind of claustrophobic, and hated to be bound up in any way. She hoped they hadn't just ambushed him and wrapped him up, or he was going to be in a temper when they let him loose.

They were all walking across the gravel courtyard to the small Uchiha shrine when there was an ominous chakra spike and a pair of blue glowing hands thrust through the fabric. In one continued motion, a figure in a blue kimono rolled out of the cloth and landed in a crouch on the ground. As he straightened, Sakura could tell from his body language that he was pretty pissed.

_Oh jeez, they did ambush him. Bakas._

"What's the matter love, don't you like surprises?"

Naruto spun around, and Sakura caught her breath. This was the fist time she had seen him in formal wear, and he looked incredible!

Their kimonos had been a gift from Tsunade, and she had surprised them by commissioning them with some personal touches. Hers was the traditional white, but had a scattering of embroidered cherry blossom petals around the hems, and the obi with it was a pale pink. The effect was enchanting. Then Tsunade had surprised her in a different way. On the back, where the clan symbol usually went was a orange spiral, with a band of white around it and a thinner line of red around that. Sakura had been stunned when she realized what the symbol represented. It was the new Uzumaki clan symbol. A joining of her and Naruto.

She saw now that Naruto had the same symbol on his rich blue kimono. Obviously, someone with a playfully creative side had done the embroidery on it. At first glance it seemed to be trimmed in abstract designs, but when you came closer you saw that they had embroidered tiny stylized orange foxes along the hems. His obi was a dark russet that stood out against the blue like autumn leaves against the sky. After the ceremony, these kimonos would be hung in their home like the priceless works of art they were. His shaggy blond hair had been pulled back into a loose club at the nape of his neck, but, to Sakura's amusement, his bangs still flopped in front of his eyes.

Sakura stepped over to him, and he goggled at her as she tried to sooth his ruffled feelings and fix his slightly rumpled clothes.

"Sakura, you look wonderful."

"Thank you. Likewise."

"I'm so confused."

"I'm not surprised, with the way these idiots decided to do things. They kidnapped us so that we could have our quiet wedding." She nudged Shikamaru with her foot as he sat detangling himself from the cloth and his co-conspirators. " You meant well, even if that wasn't one of your best efforts, oh brilliant one."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time. You know none of us can do an external Genjutsu to save our lives. Sharingan isn't very useful in these cases," Shikamaru grunted. That got him a glare from Sasuke and Kakashi.

Naruto just snorted. "If you were planning something like this, you could have told me."

Sasuke echoed Naruto's snort. "And what were the chances of you going all noble on us and saying you had to go through with the chaos for the sake of you soon to be in-law?"

Naruto tried to come up with a retort while Sakura felt all her insides sink to her feet. She couldn't do this this way. She just didn't have the heart to do this to her mother. She looked around. Everybody they had originally wanted to be here were here. The rest of the Twelve, Genma and Kenkou, old Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, the Suna group, Naruto's team, and the sensei, Gai and Kurenai with Takara. She scanned the crowd and spied exactly who she needed. "Konohamaru, come here for a moment."

The lanky teenager looked up and came over. "What's up Sakura-san?"

"I need you to do something for me. You know what my mother looks like ,right?" He nodded. "Good. I need you to go and bring her here. Do what ever it takes, just be your usual charming self, but get her here as quick as you can. Ok, can you do that for me?"

Konohamaru took her and bowed in an overly formal way over it, grinning." For you, Sakura-hime, anything."

Sakura laughed and pulled her hand out of his grasp. "Gaki!" But she gave him a pat on the cheek. "Thank you."

He flashed her a smile and leapt away. Sakura turned back around to see Naruto watching her. He smiled and nodded. "Good."

Tsunade stuck her head out of the shrine door. "Hey, let's do this before too many people notice we're gone."

All the participants moved into the shrine and took their places. The priest was waiting for them in front of the alter, along with Tenten, Hinata, Ino, and Shizune, as they were acting as the miko, or priest's helpers, for the ceremony. Naruto and Sakura took their places seated across from one another. Iruka, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Tsunade sat nearby to stand witness and to signify the groom's family. The priest started the chant to kami to bless the union while beating on a resonant drum. Next came the sipping of the sake. The miko took turns serving the sake to the participants in three different sized cups, small to large. Each time they would pretend to pour the sake twice before pouring it in the cup on the third time. In turn, each of them had to pretend to dink the sake twice before really drinking it on the third try. Odd numbers are considered lucky at weddings, for they cannot be divided. Three and nine are particularly lucky. Sakura was receiving her last cup from Ino, when she saw Konohamaru arrive with her mother. The set expression on Hanako's face did not bode well, though there was little she could do with the ceremony already started.

Soon it was time for the vows, and instead of reading the traditional responses, she and Naruto had made up their own. Naruto was first.

"My Sakura, I vow to always stand beside you, fight next to you, support and encourage you, for as long as life is granted to me. Believe it." There was a ripple of chuckles behind them at that last. Sakura didn't even notice. All she heard was the faint tremble in his gentle voice.

"Naruto, I vow to heal your hurts, of the future as well as the past, and to support you in all things, no matter how distant the goal." Now they both had tears in their eyes. They weren't the only ones.

They stood and offered the sacred evergreen Sakaki branches to kami, laying them on the altar. They sat down and it was the turn of the family to make the offering. The final stage was a toast including everyone present. The miko distributed the sake to everyone, and the crowd chuckled again when Neji reached over Lee's shoulder and plucked the cup from his hand. "Kampai!"

The priest bowed to the couple and nodded to the Hokage. Tsunade stood up and bowed to the priest, then pulled Naruto and Sakura to their feet. "Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Sakura," she announced. The crowd cheered as Naruto wrapped his arms around Sakura and kissed her deeply. They reluctantly broke apart and simply gazed at each other until the rounds of congratulations started.

Sakura was startled as she was pulled into a strong hug. She was surprised to see tears in her mother's eyes. "That was so beautiful. I'm sorry if I pushed my desires onto you."

Sakura cried as she hugged her mother back. "I'm sorry too, Mom. But I had to do this." Hanako nodded in understanding as Sakura glanced at her new husband, standing relaxed and happy nearby, getting a similar treatment from Tsunade. Hanako went and stood in front of Naruto and whispered a few words in his ear. He nodded and smiled gently, tears in his eyes as Hanako gave him a firm hug.

Suddenly Sakura thought of something. "Mom, are all those people still at the shrine?"

Hanako ducked guiltily. "You know, I'm pretty sure they are."

Naruto laughed, and he and Sakura shared a glance. She nodded. " Well, there's no reason we can't have the reception party there, is there? " Naruto boomed.

"Yes! Bring on the party!" Kiba, Kankuro, and Konohamaru all yelled.

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The reception party lasted well into the night. Gifts were given to the couple, the most startling being when Sasuke simply presented them with a key.

"What's this to?" Naruto asked, looking at it curiously.

"There's a small house in the corner of the neighborhood that belonged to my aunt and uncle. I'm giving it to you."

Naruto and Sakura were speechless. All they could do was wrap their brother in a hug that, for once, Sasuke did nothing to get out of. But he was'nt finished.

"This morning, a bunch of us moved most of your furniture into it already. It might need a little fixing up, but not much."

Sakura looked up at him. "You didn't have to do all that."

"Sasuke smirked. "Yes I did. Naruto's room is next to mine, and I want to sleep tonight."

Sakura blushed as Naruto laughed.

Near midnight, only the hardcore partiers were still going. The way some of them were going, this was going to be one of those "sleep where you drop" parties. Finally the newly married couple could slip away. Sakura was exhausted from the ups and downs of the day, and after a few blocks, Naruto scooped her into his arms and carried her over the rooftops. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave herself over to his care.

On reaching the compound, they were touched to see that their friends had left a path of lanterns pointing them in the direction of their new home. It was a lovely little one level house on a corner lot. From what they could see, it had a garden surrounding it, with some delicate maple trees and a small pond.

"I can't believe he did this," Sakura said in awe.

Naruto slid the door open and carried her through. His eyes were almost luminous in the soft light of the moon. "Then we should take full advantage of his generosity, don't you think?"

Her kiss was the only answer he needed.

--------------------------------

The week following the wedding was mercifully quiet. The newlyweds spent their time fixing up and decorating their new house, as the Hokage had given them the rest of the week off to have to themselves. Unfortunately, it was all she could give them with Iwa, and possibly Taki breathing down their necks. Naruto and Sakura promised themselves a longer honeymoon later.

A couple of days after the wedding, Shikamaru approached the small house. The exterior had recently been painted a cheerful blue, and the neglected garden was already showing signs of Naruto's green thumb. The pond ran clear, and a few fat koi were cruising around. Those two had certainly been busy. He hated to disturb them, but he had a question for Naruto that had been bugging him for a while, and he didn't think his friend would mind. He had his hand raised, just about to knock on the door when the sounds of raised voices floated through the open window to his right.

"Sakura, you're crazed."

"Oh, I'm crazed, Mr. Let's Paint the Bedroom Orange."

"It was just a suggestion! You asked!"

"Yes I did, but orange? Really?"

"I'm sorry, I still like orange."

"Well _I'm _sorry, I'm vetoing that idea right now!"

There was a moment of silence, and Shikamaru could just picture the two glaring at each other. He wasn't worried, as this sounded like a well rehearsed, good natured argument. Soon there was loud laughter and giggling as the two cracked up.

"So what color **are** we going to paint the bedroom?"

"I don't really care. Just no orange."

"Well, why don't we go up there now and take a closer look at it, then?"

"Oh, I think that might help. With a few things. We haven't spent nearly enough time in the bedroom. "

Shikamaru was cursing his overactive imagination. He might be seeing innuendos where there weren't any, but somehow he doubted it. They were newlyweds after all.

"You know, I think we really need to look closer at this room. We haven't spent nearly enough time here, either."

"Mmmm, I think your right. We have this new couch. We really should break it in."

And that was when Shikamaru decided that his question could wait, and beat a hasty retreat. Temari had left the day before, after a very lengthy goodbye. He wouldn't see her again for some time. " And now for a cold shower," he mumbled.

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Naruto and Sakura had discovered that the roof of their house had a level spot overlooking the garden that was perfect for relaxing in the sun and sky gazing, so that was what they were doing. They had spread a blanket across the shingles and were sprawled out on it, just content in each others company, listening to the activity in the compound and the street on the other side of the wall.

"It's a shame we have to go back on duty tomorrow," sighed Sakura, her head pillowed on Naruto's stomach.

"I know. Despite the kinda rocky start, this has been the best week of my life," Naruto said as he curled his arm around her.

"It will be nice when we can go on a proper honeymoon, though. Where do you want to go?"

" Oh, I don't know. I hear Crescent Moon is nice this time of year." He flinched, laughing, as she smacked at him blindly over her head." Yah, watch where you're aiming! Your gonna want me to still be able to use that!"

They chuckled and went back to sleepily watching the clouds float past. That is, until a message scroll fell from the sky and hit Naruto on the forehead. He sat up cursing as a hawk screamed from above. "Damn birds! I swear they do that on purpose."

"Sure they do. So, what does it say?"

"It's a message for all Jounin from Baa-chan. Meet on the roof of the Hokage tower in three hours, full battle gear. Hah! There must be someone coming that she wants to impress. But we still have a day, she can't mean us too."

Sakura read the message over his shoulder and giggled. "I think she knows you too well. Look, ' Yes, this includes you Naruto and Sakura, sorry, honeymoon's over.'"

Naruto sighed, "Fine. Well, if she wants us to look impressive, I suppose we better go get our good duds on."

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"So how's the co-ed naked house decorating going?"

Sakura spluttered loudly, then turned beet red when everyone in the line-up looked at her curiously. "Ino!" she whispered furiously. "Shut the hell up."

"What? It's not like the rest of us don't know what's been going on in there," Ino whispered back.

"It's none of your business, Pig."

"Come on, all I want is a rating. And some descriptions. You hear rumors, you know."

"Hey! That's my husband you're talking about!"

The conversation could have degenerated into something else entirely if, to Sakura's everlasting relief, Tsunade hadn't turned around at that moment to glare at them. That look shut up even Ino.

Sakura hoped whoever the Hokage was expecting would arrive soon. The pleasant sun that she and Naruto had been enjoying a few hours ago was brutally hot on people in full battle gear. Her abbreviated black armor felt like hot plates, even with the mesh shirt underneath. She and her team had developed this armor after a kunai had found its mark during a skirmish with Iwa. She had had to go into a self healing trance after that one, and Sasuke and Naruto had pressured her to start wearing more protection. Both of them had abbreviated ANBU armor, mainly bracers for their lower arms, legs, back, and abdomen. It was light weight, didn't hamper movement, and its matte black coloring didn't stand out, and this is what she had taken to wearing. She had to admit she looked a little more serious with it on, and it, with her vest, did the job.

From her slight glances to her left and right, everyone else present were also slowly baking to death. Tsunade had lined them up behind her in no particular order, but everyone had gravitated to their old teams. To her left were Naruto and Sasuke, Tenten, Neji, Lee, and Shizune's team of Genma, Raido, and Iwashi. After them came the Jounin not in teams, namely Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, and Anko. To Sakura's right was the still smirking Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji, then Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. Ranged behind the first line were the rest of Konoha's Jounin. They were all dressed in full battle kits, and Sakura had to admit they all looked very impressive. She knew what her canny sensei was doing. Whoever was coming to this little get together would be reminded that Konoha fielded more top level Jounin than any other village. It would be sure to make an impression. So she endured the heat and waited.

Soon, an ANBU appeared at Tsunade's elbow and whispered something in her ear. "Good, escort them up here and watch their reactions."

"Hai."

Tsunade turned slightly to look at her Jounin. "Look alive people, the Takikage is almost here."

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"**Dun dun dun! To be continued!"**

**Stay tuned! Same bat time, same bat channel! (And hopefully work will let up on me a bit so the next chapter won't take forever like this one did. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry, had to put this on a backburner for a bit while I sorted some things out, like life. I also had almost the whole thing written before I decided I didn't like it and tore it apart. But anyway, here ya go. Kinda slow, but the next chapter gets exciting, and it wont take nearly as long.**

**Still don't own, but I'm getting happier about the way the story is going.**

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Yoritomo Satsu, the newly appointed leader of Taki, the village hidden in the waterfall, was cursing his fool of a predecessor.

Not only had he been a tyrant (and an idiot), but he had insisted, against all tradition, to take the title of Kage. With the title came the outfit. And with the outfit came the need to wear said outfit to any formal or diplomatic function. Even if that function was during late spring, and you were climbing metal stairs to the top of a tower in the middle of the afternoon. _"I'm sweating so much, I think I've shrunk. I don't really need to get any shorter." _he grumbled to himself, thinking longingly of the shade and cool mists back home. _" Why the hell are we meeting on the roof?"_

"_Oh well, could be worse. We could be doing this in Suna." _

However, this mission was more important than any discomfort on his part. His newly expanded country needed this alliance. Needed it badly. Sharing a border with Earth Country would make anyone wish for strong friends, and right now Konoha and Suna were the strongest friends you could ask for. Better yet, they were already having their own problems with Iwa. _"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." _As he crested the top of the tower, he looked around_. "Yep, theses will be good friends to have."_

The two Kages, Gaara of Suna and Tsunade of Konoha were standing side by side, waiting for him. Satsu couldn't help but notice that neither of them was wearing their thrice cursed robes. He wanted to turn to his advisors and whine like a five year old, "No fair, they don't have to wear _theirs_!", but he figured that wouldn't go over very well. The two were impressive enough without the robes. The impassive Kazekage had a powerful reputation as someone you just didn't want to mess with. A guard with an unusual black outfit and fierce kabuki war paint was standing just behind the red head. The Takikage decided that he didn't want to mess with either of them. The same went double for Tsunade. He had heard a lot of stories about her from his father. His eye, however, was drawn to the massive line up of Jounin arranged behind them. He could only dream of fielding that many Jounin, and they all had leaf symbols. The number would further swell when Suna added its might. Hope began to rise in the young Takikage.

Satsu took his time at the top of the stairs, making a show of waiting for his council to puff their way up to join him. What he really wanted , however, was to have a moment to study those already there. They were a who's who of bingo book stardom. He recognized the infamous Copy Nin, Hatake Kakashi, the tall, eccentrically green clad Maito Gai, and the red eyed genjutsu mistress Yuuhi Kurenai from their rather lengthy entries. But lately, new faces from Konoha had been making appearances in the book. They were all young, and nearly all from one year group. To have that many Jounin out of a single graduating class was so unheard of that, for awhile, it had been all the other hidden villages had talked about . Satsu had wanted to see the proof for himself for some time.

There were twelve of them, he had heard, and that matched what he saw. Ranged in a line behind their Kage was a group that all looked about the same age, give or take a year or two. Eight shinobi and four kunoichi. And, he must say, all looked pretty capable. Most of them looked downright dangerous. He recognized members of Konoha's great clans: two Hyuugas with their pale eyes, a bear-like Akimichi, an Inuzuka with a truly huge dog sitting next to him, but it was three individuals toward the middle of the line-up that caught his attention. Two of them weren't from any recognizable clan, and they weren't flashy, just memorable. They were definitely a team, if the way their armor matched was any indication. Then there was the fact that the three of them alone were putting off more chakra than most of his own Jounin combined.

This would have interested him in them even if he hadn't known exactly who they were.

His eye was drawn to the clan symbol on the tunic of the dark haired, dark eyed man. So this was the last Uchiha. One couldn't spend time in Rice Country without hearing the name Uchiha Sasuke. Many there considered him a savior of sorts. After all, he had rid them of one of the scariest men this side of hell. A man who had seen the people of the country as sheep to be used in his strange experiments and terrifying training regimes.

One such sheep Satsu had talked to had been a samurai, an old friend of his father's, who had been captured and thrown at the young Uchiha for jutsu bait, along with several others. The man had been impressed by the power the teen had shown, but had been even more impressed that he hadn't killed a single one of his targets. He had been laying close enough to hear Orochimaru berating the boy about being too compassionate. The young man had then done what few others could do and live, just blow the snake off. Then, a few months later, he killed him. He had understood that Uchiha had mostly done this to save his own skin, but the act had had lasting repercussions in the oppressed country. They had been well rid of the insane Sannin.

Now, it had barely been a week since Satsu had heard the name of the kunoichi in this team, Haruno Sakura. Something about a club in Rice Field Country and one of his younger Jounin walking around muttering to himself for a couple of days.

When that selfsame Jounin came up the stairs behind the advisors a moment later, scanned the crowd, turned white as a sheet, then narrowed his eyes in anger, the Takikage sighed. _"Oh man, he was just starting to get over it ,too. I'm going to have to keep an eye on the hot-head."_He valued Hachiro for his (usually) good instincts and his ability to read a person's chakra. To put one over on him took some skill. The young woman's soft pink hair and jade green eyes were contrasted by the confident, intelligent expression and athletic body. She was wearing black body armor enameled with a clan symbol he didn't recognize, a orange spiral bordered in a thick white band, shared by the man next to her.

Anyone who paid any attention at all to the goings on in other countries knew the name of the tall blond with the distinctive whisker marks. The last jinchuuriki and, for a time, the only S-class Gennin ever, Uzumaki Naruto. He had been gaining a reputation all over the Five Countries as the second coming of Konoha's Yellow Flash, the Yondaime Hokage, and was even rumored to be the man's son. Satsu didn't know if that rumor was true, but he certainly bore a resemblance to the face on the cliff behind him. Uzumaki's piercing blue eyes were flashing as he scanned the rooftop, his whole attitude one of easy vigilance. That stare was more than a little intimidating when it happened to rest on him, and the way he was shifting his attention between his Hokage and the approaching delegation, the young Takikage knew that easy going attitude would vanish in a second if anyone threatened Tsunade.

Not that you threatened someone before you asked them for help.

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Naruto unconsciously shifted his weight to the balls of his feet as he watched the leader of Taki approach Gaara and Tsunade, but didn't change his relaxed posture in any other way. He couldn't sense malice from any of the Taki group, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. From his position directly behind Tsunade, he would be all over them like a bad rash if they tried anything. Not that they would try anything with this many Jounin in close proximity,unless they were suicidal.

Naruto felt himself being studied minutely and tried not to let it put his hackles up. After all, he was doing the same thing. The Takikage was a good head shorter than himself, but Naruto couldn't tell a whole lot else about him through the robes and hat. He was keeping the hat pulled down as far as he could and still be able to see, so he couldn't discern anything about his face_. " I don't know how anyone could wear those silly hats. The only one who could ever pull it off was the old man. I bet my father never wore it. I don't care what anyone says, I'm never wearing that hat."_

Naruto was broken out of his thoughts by a soft snorting sound coming from his right. From his wife, to be exact. He glanced over at her without moving his head and saw her shoulders shaking slightly as she tried to contain her mirth. Her eyes were fixed on one of the Taki Jounin. Looking past Sakura, he could see Ino trying to contain herself as well.

_Okaaayyy_? That was slightly weird. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. He wondered if Hinata and Tenten were in on this as well. He knew the four of them had gone _somewhere _the weekend before the wedding. All Sakura would tell him was that they had been out clubbing. Now he was finding himself wondering exactly where they had been _while_ they had been clubbing.

The Takikage had reached Tsunade and Gaara, and Naruto snapped his attention back to the meeting as the robed figure bowed. As the leader of the host village, Tsunade took one step forward in greeting. "Welcome to Konoha, I, Senju Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, greet you. This is Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage, and Konoha's ally."

The Takikage stopped at a polite distance. "Thank you for the welcome, but you don't have to be so formal, Tsunade-sama." And, chuckling, he took his hat off.

Naruto was surprised to see a young man not a whole lot older than himself. He had short, dark brown hair and unusual hazel eyes. Judging from his stature and his facial structure, Naruto guessed he could be from any of the towns in Rice country. Naruto was also surprised by the cheeky grin. He heard Tsunade inhale abruptly, then laugh.

"Satsu! Yoritomo Satsu!"

The young man laughed easily. "I'm flattered, Tsunade-sama. You remember me."

"How could I not remember you, you look just like your father! How is the old man, and how the hell did you become the leader of Taki? I take it that the idiot who has been nibbling at our borders was not you." She raised her eyebrow at him.

Yoritomo laughed. "The old man is fine, if not a little cranky that he somehow keeps getting older, it's a really long story, and no, it wasn't me. I, unlike my predecessor, don't have a death wish."

Tsunade took the two steps needed to close the distance between them and clapped the young man on the shoulder. "I'll hear it over a bottle of sake later. For now, we'll start our negotiations. Let's go to my office, it will be cooler there."

The Takikage laughed as his advisors looked outraged to have been forced to climb all this way for nothing. "Good tactics, Tsunade-sama, making me sweat. I also especially like the intimidation." He nodded at the assembled Jounin. "But I'm sure there is no more need for them to roast out here."

"Your shinobi are welcome to enjoy what Konoha has to offer, but they will be watched, so I suggest they be on their best behavior," Tsunade said as she turned to her Jounin. "That goes for you lot as well! Naruto, come over here for a second, the rest of you, dismissed!" The Jounin scattered in all directions.

Naruto kept up his vigilance as he stalked to Tsunade's side. She seemed to have some sort of past relationship with this Yoritomo Satsu, but that was no reason to let his guard down. The father she was talking about was probably one of her dozens of old gambling buddies she seemed to have in every country. Figures.

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Hachiro knew this was probably a bad idea. Actually, it was enough of a bad idea that the little voices in his head were screaming frantically at him to stop. To confront another Jounin, especially a Jounin who he suspected was stronger than himself, in her own village wasn't on the list of approved ways to a healthy lifestyle, but he had to do this. The louder voice that represented his bruised male pride was drowning out every thing else at the moment, like common sense. He had been embarrassed, (and continued to be since his team just couldn't seem to let the thing drop) , and even though everyone had told him that he was making too big a deal about this, seeing the woman again just made him want to talk to her.

There, a flash of pink on the road ahead of him. "Haruno! Haruno Sakura!"

The woman stopped and turned around curiously at the unfamiliar voice calling her, and her green eyes widened when she saw him. A look of guilty amusement flashed over her face as she elbowed the woman next to her, who Hachiro suddenly recognized as the platinum blond who had also been present that night. He hadn't even realized it was the same woman. Well, she was wearing a lot more clothing now than last time.

They waited for him as he stalked up the street. He stopped a few yards away. " So, that really is your name. I suppose you thought that little stunt you pulled back at that club was funny. You had me questioning my training and career choice for a few days, I hope you know."

He thought he had been all serious, but she just looked at him and started laughing. His jaw dropped in surprise, which just seemed to set her off more. Soon the blond next to her was cracking up too. This was becoming intolerable.

Finally, wiping tears from her eyes, she looked at him sheepishly. "I am sorry. I know that was a mean thing we did to you, but that picture in your bingo book was just so bad, and my friends and I were having a kind of bachelorett weekend. At that point our countries were at odds, so messing with you just seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't know we would be running into each other so soon, and under such circumstances." She straightened up." If these negotiations go well, we'll be allies, so as my master's apprentice, please accept my apology." She bowed to him. Then she looked up at him with amusement. "But, you have to admit, it was pretty funny."

She thought it was funny? She would. But as he looked into her jade green eyes, still sparkling from laughing, Hachiro found himself ready to forgive her for anything. She really was beautiful. He decided he was feeling audacious. He put on his most charming smile. "Well, I might find it in my heart to forgive you if you'll join me for dinner tonight. I would hate for something as silly as this to come between any future, ah, relationship we might have."

Now it was her turn for her mouth to drop open with surprise. Haruno recovered quickly though and cocked an eyebrow at him, an expression that made his heart melt a little more. He supposed he was coming on a little strong, but he was throwing all caution to the wind. She seemed to think he was coming on strong too, but instead of being offended, it just seemed to amuse her more. And her blond friend, who was practically howling at this point.

" Thank you for the offer, but I already have a prior engagement." She glanced over his shoulder and smirked. "With the guy standing right behind you.

"Is there a problem here?" a deep voice rumbled. He jumped despite himself. Damn these Leaf ninja and their damn chakra suppression. Why was it that they all made him feel like a rank amateur? Hachiro looked back and slightly up into a pair of amused blue eyes shadowed by rather shaggy blond hair. Odd whisker-like tattoos crossed both of his angular cheeks.

Wait, blond? Whiskers?

_Oh shit, it's Uzumaki. Hachiro, what the hell have you gotten yourself into now? _

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Sakura sighed as the young Taki Jounin's eyes widened as he looked up into Naruto's feral grin. She shook her head when she saw him displaying a little more tooth then was necessary. He knew very well what that expression did to people who didn't know him. His eyes glittered with mirth, but the rest of his face was anything but amused. For such a normally gentle person, her husband knew how to intimidate.

The whole time she had been trying to help Naruto find a way to suppress and hide his copious amounts of chakra, she had been wondering whether it was in fact a good idea and was afraid of what she would be unleashing on the unsuspecting world. Unfortunately, he had been as quick a study as he usually was. Now that she saw him taking full advantage of that skill just to mess with people, her fears were being realized. Although, while she had owed the Jounin an apology for her prank, and felt better for it, the tables had turned when he started hitting on her, so she supposed he deserved Naruto's attention.

The Taki Jounin ( she was going to have to learn the name of their poor victim) stammered something and tried to leave, but came face to face with Sasuke, who suddenly appeared at Naruto's shoulder. One icy glare from his black eyes sent the man stumbling back only to fetch up against Kiba. The man seemed to shrink as the three glared at him. Sakura sighed in exasperation. She really was surrounded by some of the most overprotective males in the world. She understood about Naruto and Sasuke, but Kiba had been driving her nuts lately. She was the wife of his captain, and no matter how strong he knew she was, to the pack oriented Inuzuka that meant she was to be protected. She had found that beatings didn't deter him, so she just put up with it.

The killing intent was becoming rather thick and the poor young man looked like he was about to faint, so Sakura decided she better step in. "Will all my guys please get a grip before you start an international incident."

"That would be nice. I don't really have that many Jounin," came a voice from nearby. "I thought I might find you in a situation like this, Hachiro. I thought that thing with the Rice daimyo's daughter would have taught you a lesson."

Sakura and everyone else looked up to see the Takikage leaning on a building casually. " I told Tsunade-sama I had to go check on something really quick, and look what I find. Sorry about this. Hachiro is one of my best shinobi, but he can be a bit of a rake sometimes." He glided up to the group, and Sakura was impressed at how gracefully he moved and at the controlled power he commanded. In that respect, he reminded her a great deal of Naruto. There was obviously a reason that this man was the leader of Taki.

The young Jounin, (_I guess his name is Hachiro, Sakura thought), _quailed as his leader reached him. "I'm sorry Satsu-sama, I know you told me to drop it, but-"

Yoritomo sighed exasperatedly. Sakura thought she heard him mutter to himself "I'm too young to deal with this shit", or something to that effect.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, you know."

The young man ducked his head and turned to Sakura. "I apologize for my behavior, Haruno-san. It was rude and unbecoming toward a fellow ninja." He bowed lowly.

Sakura felt Naruto come up beside her, and she leaned into his comforting bulk. This had been a weird day and all she wanted to do was go home and get this armor off. "Apology accepted, the matter will be forgotten." Sakura couldn't help get one last barb in. "And by the way, it's not Haruno, it's Uzumaki." She chuckled mercilessly at the young man's horrified expression.

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Due to the ever-present threat of confrontation with Iwa and the presence of the Taki delegation, Konoha was on mild alert. That meant that any shinobi over a certain rank had to have their uniform and weapons either on or near them at all times. That explained the small mountain of flak jackets, armor and weapon pouches piled next to the door of the Uzumaki house.

Sakura didn't know exactly when everyone had decided to invade their house every few nights to watch movies, but she thought it might have something to do with the huge couch that several of them had gotten her and Naruto as a wedding gift. At the time, she hadn't realized that there might have been ulterior motives behind the gift. The couch, a large plush leather affair that took up most of their living room, could fit six to seven people on it, depending on how friendly they were.

Or five people and one Akimichi, 'cause it was first come first serve and if Choji got there first, some people were just SOL. Like tonight.

She and Naruto were curled up together in the middle (it was their couch after all), Kiba and Hinata had claimed most of the loveseat, with Shino taking up the rest. That left Choji in command of the end nearest the door. The rest found places on the floor and looked like nothing more than a bunch of speed bumps on cushions. Neji and Tenten were sharing a large pillow, Lee sprawled out nearby. Shikamaru had walked in the door a few minutes later and had just dropped to the floor in his usual boneless way. Sasuke felt it was below his dignity to lounge across the floor and was instead sitting cross legged with his back propped up against the couch in front of Naruto, who would complain when his head would get in the way of the TV. These complaints usually were ignored.

Tonight, Ino was running late, so the guys had won the movie choice by a landslide. They were about a half hour into some new action film that seemed to have no point and no plot besides an excuse to blow things up, when Ino came trudging through the door, shedding sandals and medic vest and adding them to the pile.

"If I get roped into one more double shift, Sakura, so help me…" She noticed the occupancy level on the couch. "Damn. I was looking forward to some couch time. Ah, hell with it."

And with that she waded across the body strewn floor and plopped down in Choji's lap. She shifted so she was sitting sideways across his legs and rested her feet on Sakura's lap. Sakura was interested to note that Choji had turned slightly red, but didn't seem too unhappy by the situation. Sakura smiled to herself. Maybe this was a sign of future attraction. The steady, cheerful Akimichi would be good for her flighty friend. Her amusement ended when Ino wiggled her toes in her face.

"Come on Sakura, work some of your magic on my feet, seeing as you're the slave driver that keeps me on them all day."

"Ino, get your smelly feet out of my face! First of all, I didn't give you the double shift today, shishou did. And second, get off poor Choji, he was here first."

Ino pouted. "But I love this couch. I'm sure Choji doesn't mind, do you Choji?" The large man stammered a denial as Ino grabbed some chips from the communal bowl on the end table and started watching the movie.

Sakura sighed and wondered if Ino and the rest of them would still like the couch so much if they knew exactly what she and Naruto had done on it. Several times. The idea of letting that little tidbit slip became more and more tempting as Ino continued to rest her feet in Sakura's lap. She pushed them off, and Ino started whining again.

"Would you shut up already, we're trying to watch this," Shikamaru muttered from his place on the floor.

Ino narrowed her eyes at her old teammate. "Well, isn't someone a little testy tonight. Missing your little desert flower?" Ino loved to rib Shikamaru about his long distance relationship as much as he hated to be reminded of it.

Luckily for the rest of them, because when you got Ino wound up on that particular subject, it was hard to distract her, Shikamaru's annoyed retort was lost when the emergency claxon started to go off all across the village.

_All Jounin report to the tower. Immediately_.

Startled looks flew across the room before there was a mad dash for the pile of equipment, those on the couch stumbling over the ones on the floor that didn't move fast enough. There was a few moments of chaos as everyone tried to grab their stuff all at the same time, and make sure it was their stuff and not somebody else's. As one would finish, he or she would bolt out the door. Soon all twelve of them were making their way across the rooftops toward the tower, still adjusting their accoutrements.

Tsunade was sitting behind her desk as they all filed into her office and formed up along with the rest of the Jounin. She rolled her eyes as Sakura and Ino discovered they were wearing each others vests and exchanged them sheepishly. Naruto was still strapping his armor into place, his haori slung across his shoulders haphazardly, as he had been the last one out the door. Luckily she knew about movie night, and didn't say anything. The door opened and Gaara, Kankuro, and Yoritomo walked in. Gaara gave Tsunade a nod and went to stand behind her, with Yoritomo taking the space on her other side. Kankuro joined the Konoha Jounin.

"Okay boys and girls, the fun starts tonight. Our spies have just informed us that Iwa is on the move."

There was some muttering from the assembled Jounin. "So, when do they get here?" someone, probably Anko, eagerly asked.

Tsunade looked grim. "That's the problem, they won't."

"Huh?"

Tsunade shook her head sourly. "It seems their spies were as successful as ours. They know Gaara's here. They're heading for Suna."

There was more muttering, and Naruto stepped forward, crossing his arms. " Okay, so what are we going to do about it?"

Tsunade chuckled evilly, but her eyes shone with pride. "I'm glad you asked that Naruto, because you're going to lead the reinforcements."

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**Like I said, a little slow, but it only gets better from here**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey! Here's the next chapter. It's kind of a lead up to most of the fighting, mainly because I've been working too hard to concentrate on epic fight scenes. So I apologize in advance if you were hoping for some excitement. Forty hour work weeks with a lot of other stuff in between don't leave much time for writing. Still wishing for a winning lottery ticket. "Sigh" So here you go, hope you enjoy. **

**P.S. Thanks for all the great response I've been getting. I love suggestions and interacting with the readers. **

**P.P.S. To anyone caught up on the manga, is it just me or is Sasuke becoming way more gullible than Naruto ever was? Boy will believe anything a bi-polar freak in an orange mask tells him. Jeez.**

**Still don't own. Bummer.**

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It was just past midday as the group worked their way through the forest near the border of Wind Country and River Country. There were twenty three of them leaping through the trees but the wildlife took almost no notice, so silent was their passing. They traveled in a loose but orderly diamond formation, the forward point positions relaying information to their leader behind them, who in turn directed the movements of the rest, all the way back to the rear guard.

They had been traveling fast for the past day and a half, Naruto pushing them as hard as he dared. He knew Gaara and Kankuro were chafing at the pace a little, worried about their village and their sister, but it couldn't be helped. They would need all their strength in the next couple of days, and not the artificial strength that soldier pills provided either, or they would be worthless by the time they reached Suna, so they took regular breaks every few hours to get their wind back. Naruto had Neji and Kiba on point, looking for any obstacles that would slow them down, and had Hinata watching their back trail. So far they hadn't run into any problems and were making excellent time. The forest was already starting to thin out to grassland, which would in turn merge to the dunes of the desert.

He had to assume, and Shikamaru agreed with him, that Iwa knew perfectly well that reinforcements would come from Konoha sooner or later. Hopefully they wouldn't be expecting them quite _this_ soon.

There had been some chatter in the group at the beginning of the day, but over time, the mood had become heavier. There had been little talking since their last break. This was not your average A-ranked mission. No, they were going to war, and it sobered them somewhat. War was nothing new to them, even to the younger members of the party. All had been in active duty, even if only as Genin, during the Akatsuki affair, and those events weighed heavily on everyone's thoughts.

"Niiiii-saaaan, are we there yet?" a voice called from the middle of the pack.

Well, almost everyone.

Naruto rolled his eyes when Konohamaru yelped as Machi, the Chuunin kunoichi of his team, smacked him in the back of the head. Machi was a no nonsense sort of person who wore dark clothing and carried multiple folded fuuma shuriken across her back. Naruto had never been more grateful for the fact that, while they worked well as a team, Konohamaru was often a bit scared of the girl.

"How did I get talked into this?" Naruto grumbled to himself.

Flashback

"Wait, what?" Naruto stared at Tsunade, dumbstruck.

Tsunade raised one elegant eyebrow. "What's so hard to understand about this? I want you to lead the first counterattack. You're going to take an advance group consisting of you twelve Jounin and the Chuunin under your command. Go with Gaara and Kankuro, get to Suna, see what the situation is and relay it back to the next group. You twelve act like one big team anyway, so you're the easiest to mobilize. It's going to take me a day to organize the rest, and I need to keep some Jounin in the village in case this is a diversion of some sort and Iwa plans to attack here as well. Taki has decided to stay and support Konoha should it come under attack, so I'll have a few more Jounin here to work with."

Naruto's mind was reeling so much he barely heard the last part. He had been the captain of his own squad for the past year and a half, but to lead a team this large, consisting of all his friends, was something completely different. In fact, his first impulse was to look around to see if anyone had a problem with this. Sakura, who knew him way too well, squeezed his hand reassuringly, and he stilled the impulse and merely looked at Tsunade and nodded.

"Is there anyone else you want to take? I think I can spare you a couple more right now."

Naruto thought for a minute. "Actually, can I borrow Sai for this?"

Tsunade grinned. "I think that can be arranged. I'll have him informed at once."

Naruto smirked. "I don't think that's going to be a problem." He looked pointedly at the masked shadow behind Tsunade's desk. "Right Sai?"

Tsunade glanced at the ANBU and gave a hint of a nod. Sai shook his head as he removed his mask. "How do you always know?"

Naruto tapped the side of his nose. "Easy buddy, you smell like ink."

The rest weren't surprised by Sai's easy smile now. With the fall of Danzou and the disbanding of Root, Sai had thrived in Tsunade's ANBU. The easy going camaraderie and solidarity had been just what the young man had needed to figure out the whole emotion thing that his friends had been trying to explain to him for years. That, and he hung out with the twelve of them a lot. Naruto had even asked him if he wanted to move in to an apartment on the Uchiha compound with them, but Sai had just smiled his inscrutable smile and said thirteen was an unlucky number. That comment had been a typical Sai comment.

"Sai, you will be under Naruto for this mission."

"Understood, Hokage-sama. Thank you for the opportunity Naruto."

"Hey, you're part of Team Seven whether you like it or not pal." Naruto turned to the group. He still wanted to see their reactions to all this, especially the other captains, but they all just looked at him expectantly. "Head home, grab your gear and meet at the gate in twenty minutes. Sakura, could you get mine too? I need to talk to Baa-chan for a minute."

Sakura smiled at him. " Of course, dear. I'll see you at the gate."

The rest of the group smirked as they filed out of the office. Naruto could hear some of them simpering "yes dear" at each other in high squeaky voices, and rolled his eyes as Tsunade stifled her laugh.

End Flashback

Naruto listened to Konohamaru whine for a minute more before bringing him to order. "Ko, shut the hell up, would you? There could be scouts watching the paths from Konoha and your griping is going to attract every one within five miles." Naruto didn't have to press it further. He had known the teen long enough to know he was nervous and this was how he dealt with it. He wouldn't of passed the Rasengan to the kid if he hadn't been a strong, dependable shinobi, and Naruto knew he would settle down as soon as the fighting started.

Konohamaru looked contrite for a moment. "Sorry Naruto-niisan." But then he puffed his chest out. "But hey, I'm a better scout than any rock-head. I could see them coming from a mile away. And my camouflage techniques are perfect. Right captain?"

Naruto snorted. " Yeah whatever. Like square rocks with little eyeholes in them." Everyone who had known the young man as an academy student laughed.

"Hey," he said indignantly, "give me a break, I was like ,what, eight?"

"What about the camo sheet with the fence posts going in the wrong direction?"

"Sakura-neechan!" Konohamaru whined.

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They had made excellent time crossing the desert thanks to Gaara and Kankuro, and were now crouched behind a large dune near Suna's east gate. It was a narrow pass cut into a massive cliff (Naruto felt claustrophobic every time he had to go through it) and one of the most defensible positions in the village. Except against Iwa Jounin, evidently.

Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, and Gaara inched up the large dune on their stomachs. It was one of those perpetually windy, dusty days in Suna, which couldn't have been better as far as Naruto was concerned. While the irritating sand got under your clothes and armor, crusted your eyes and got in places you didn't know you had, it was a cover that they didn't have to waist any chakra on. Even if it was hell to see through.

But that's what Hyuugas were for, after all.

"What's it look like, Neji?" Naruto whispered as they peeked over the top of the dune.

"They've got this gate bottled up, " Neji said, Byakugan activated." They have a wall up across the pass, maybe fifty feet high. Looks like about four squads guarding it."

"All on the outside?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes. I don't see any on the village side."

Shikamaru furrowed his eyebrows. "Interesting. Looks like it's to keep people in, not out. What the hell are they up to?"

"Who knows." Naruto closed his eyes in thought. "Neji, how thick is that wall?"

Neji cocked his head slightly. "Not very. About five feet. Why?"

"Don't know. Still working on it. Sai," Naruto called softly down to the group." Ready for some recon?"

"Hai."

"Good. I want to know what's going on in there. Pick a bird that blends in and stay high. One pass only. I want to get the jump on these guys."

They watched as the ANBU quickly inked out a shape on his scroll and summoned a giant desert falcon. It could fly high and fast enough that the altitude would disguise its size. Sai vaulted lightly to its back as it took off, keeping below the level of the dunes as it flapped away from the village. Suddenly it caught a thermal and shot skyward. Soon it was only a black speck that wheeled around and began its pass over the embattled village.

The war party hunkered down to wait. Gaara, sandwiched between Naruto and his brother, was barely hanging on to his temper. For the second time since he became Kazekage, his village was being invaded by an enemy. Only this time they weren't just after him. They were after his people, and he wasn't in there to protect them. Many claimed that Gaara, while an excellent Kazekage due to his steadiness, had no imagination at all, but right now his imagination was making up for lost time and sending him all kinds of pictures of what was going on in his village.

Naruto, lost in his own thoughts, felt a tug under his feet and saw the sand around them start to gravitate toward his friend as Gaara's chakra started to spike and shot Kankuro a look over the shorter red-head.

"Gaara."

Gaara looked up, startled, and pale blue met deep blue eyes as Naruto placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Kankuro did the same on the other side. "We won't let them hurt any of your people. And if they have," and everyone looked up at the steely tone of Naruto's voice," we'll make sure there won't be anyone left to return home to Iwa."

----------------------------------------

Sai retuned a short time later, dropping from the sky as he dispelled his mount without landing. "There are some isolated pockets of fighting near the center of the village. It is a small number of Iwa nin battling the defenders of the Kazekage's tower. The rest of the Iwa army is outside of the north gate, camped. They seem to be waiting for something."

Naruto scrunched up his face. "Waiting for what, Bunka no Hi? Ugh, never mind, I don't care what they're doing right now, so long as they're doing it way over there. Sai, what kind of numbers are we looking at?"

"About three hundred, give or take." Only Sai could manage to say that with no emotion on his face.

The rest looked unsettled at that, but Konohamaru's eyebrows disappeared under his headband." Three hundred? Twenty- three against three hundred?" He turned and took a few steps back the way they came. "Sorry, wrong party."

Naruto absently reached out and snagged his "little brother" by the collar with out losing his train of thought. Konohamaru let himself be stopped. The teen knew better than to struggle in that grip.

"Gaara, the civilians have an escape route, right?"

"Yes, a series of caves in the western cliffs," Gaara answered in his usual tone, as if the person he was addressing didn't have a teenager dangling from his hand.

"And it's reasonable to assume that they have already been at least partially evacuated by now?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes. It is Temari's first action in a situation like this."

Naruto pulled at his lower lip. "So this gate is our best option. We enter here, make our way as quickly and quietly as we can to the Kazekage tower, since this is probably where we'll find Temari and the majority of the Jounin, correct?" Gaara and Kankuro nodded." Once there, we can fortify our position and plan our next step. Sound good Shika, anything to add?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "This is good for now, with as little real information we have. Once the gaps are filled in, we can work from there."

"Okay, it's a plan. Once inside, stay in formation. Taijutsu and hand to hand fighters on the outside, medics in the middle. Ino, Sakura, don't give me that look. The last thing we need is for you to get taken out in the first fifteen minutes. You're too important to the mission." _And to me_, Naruto thought, looking at his wife of two short weeks. The two medics looked slightly mutinous, but nodded grudgingly. Sakura had a very familiar look that suggested mayhem when she finally did get to cut loose.

_They might all mutiny when they hear this next one, _Naruto thought. "And everyone, once inside the village, no big jutsu."

Konohamaru's eyebrows shot up again as Naruto let go of him. "No jutsu? What are we supposed to use, harsh language?"

Naruto drug his hand down his face." I didn't say _no_ jutsu, I said no _big_ jutsu. Keep the destruction to a minimum if we can help it. Remember, we're in our friend's home. We know all too well what it's like to have to rebuild your village. It may come to the point where we have no other choice, but for now, lets keep the damage down to a dull roar, all right?" Everyone nodded soberly. The Konoha they lived in now would never be the same as the one they had grown up in thanks to the Akatsuki War.

"Right, now we just have to get in." Naruto suddenly grinned." Kiba, Choji. Let's knock on the door, shall we?"

-------------------------------------------

"Damn sandstorms," the Iwa Jounin growled to himself as his squad and the others hunkered down in what little shelter the cliffs gave them from the wind. " Man, I hate this sand."

His Chuunin rolled their eyes, "We know, we know. You hate the sand. We get it Captain."

"Hey," one of the other Jounin said." We would be hating this sand a lot more if the Kazekage were here. I'll take this little sandstorm any day over getting crushed beneath a ton of the stuff."

The Chuunin looked around nervously. "I hear that. Everyone says he's crazy," one of them said. He was the closest to the edge of the cliff, so he was the first one to hear it. "Someone want to tell me what the hell that screeching noise is?"

The four Jounin peered out into the storm, listening. One of them shook his head. "Screeching noise? Boy, I think you've been out in the heat too lo-. Oh shit!"

That was the only warning any of them had as the source of the noise, a whirling disk of blue chakra, spun out of the sand and slammed hard into the barrier. The rock groaned under the pressure for a few seconds, then exploded outward in a shower of shrapnel. Most got caught up in the blast. Those that did manage to get clear had only a few moments to wonder what was going on before they were shredded by two spinning cyclones of claws and crushed beneath a boulder like sphere of flesh that became two men and a large dog that, without stopping, dashed through the pass.

One Iwa Chuunin was conscious enough to watch as a tall blond man stepped out of the dust and surveyed the destruction with a satisfied air. "See, like I always say, if you can't find the door, make one."

The Chuunin froze, terrified he would be noticed as more figures bearing the leaf insignia appeared. There were reinforcements from Konoha here days before any should have arrived and he couldn't even call an alert as a stray rock had nearly crushed his trachea. He deemed himself lucky though, as the rest of his squad were little more than stains on the sand. Well, considered himself lucky until the Kazekage himself strode out of the sand and up to the blond. "I thought you weren't going to destroy anything?"

The blond looked affronted as he took in the gouged and scoured surface of the cliff face. "What? We're not in the village yet. I didn't say anything about the gate."

A man with the white eyes of the Hyuuga clan was scanning the area. " Kiba and Choji made it to the other side of the gate and are holding position. It doesn't look like anyone has noticed our arrival ye-, Naruto we have a live one over there."

The Chuunin's heart stopped as the blond man looked over at him. Even in the muted light of the sand storm, the distinctive whisker marks stood out on his face. He was tall, with a dancers build, but with his black armor, mesh, and orange flamed haori, he looked enormous. This could only be Uzumaki Naruto, the one everyone back home was saying was the son of the Yellow Flash. Everyone had been made to memorize his entry in the bingo book before this mission, knowing that when you messed with Suna, Konoha wouldn't be far away. But his picture in the bingo book showed blue eyes, not strange red rimmed yellow eyes that seemed to look right through you.

"Hm, sure enough. Well, we could always send him back as a present for Ibiki. He's always complaining that he doesn't have enough to do." He looked down quizzically as the Chuunin met his eyes and started to quiver. "What's wrong with this guy? He's almost wetting himself."

A dark eyed man with blue-black hair snorted. "Get out of sage-mode, stupid. You're freaking him out."

"Oh, right." He shook his head a little and his eyes changed to blue." Sakura, could you heal him up a bit so he makes it back to Konoha alive?"

The Chunnin was getting more and more unhappy about what was happening around him. Here he was , the last of his squad, surrounded by Jounin and Kage level nin who were discussing things as if they hadn't just destroyed the fortifications and killed over a dozen of his fellow Iwa nin in under a minute. Now a kunoichi with pink hair was healing some of the more serious damage he had taken, except he still couldn't move or talk. But it was about to get worse.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Uzumaki said as he slammed his hand against the ground. A huge orange toad, nearly twenty feet high, appeared. It was wearing a sash around its waist that had a massive ninjato tucked in it. "Hey Gamakichi."

"Hey Naruto, long time no see. You got some fun for me?"

"I might later, but for now I just need you to take this prisoner to Baa-chan, ok?"

The toad peered down at the Chuunin. Now he knew what Uzumaki's eyes had reminded him of. "He's not going to have a heart attack on me before we get there, is he?"

"Nah, Sakura will knock him out when she's done with him. When you're done with that, head home and tell the boss I might have some fun for everyone before this is over."

"Sure thing. Pops has been getting bored lately. And when he's bored the rest of us suffer."

The captive tried to shrink back as the toad's huge mouth came closer and closer until he felt someone poke a pressure point in his neck, then, mercifully, everything went dark.

------------------------------------------

Naruto gathered his team around him as Gamakichi disappeared in a cloud of smoke. " Ok, this is it. We don't stop until we reach the tower. Stay in formation and take out anyone in our path. Gaara, Kankuro, the rest of us will follow you. You two will know before any of us if something is wrong with the village." The two nodded. " All right, let's do this."

In a shower of sand, the entrance to the gate was empty.

They had to bunch up a bit to pass through the narrow entryway, but as soon as they cleared it they spread out and fell into their formation. Gaara and Kankuro were at point with Neji, Sasuke, and Naruto right on their heels. Tenten, Lee and Hinata came next, taking a flanking position. Choji fell in with Shikamaru as they passed, with Kiba, Akamaru and Shino bringing up the rear. Sakura and Ino traveled in the center of the formation, with the Chuunin filling any gaps. It was a formidable tactic. Regardless of the direction they were attacked from, the enemy would come up against a number of Jounin, with Chuunin to back them up.

Like most hidden villages, there was no direct route to the center. The streets formed a complex labyrinth made to confuse invaders. Gaara and Kankuro led them unerringly around twists and turns that seemed aimless, but was in fact the fastest way to the tower.

Naruto quietly entered sage mode again as they ran, using it to keep tabs on everyone in his team. After a few minutes, they ran into their first opposition. It was a pair of Chuunin level scouts that didn't even slow them down. Naruto dimly saw the flash as Sasuke's sword licked out, neatly decapitated one of the men, and re-sheathed in one fluid motion. From behind them there was a short shout, a roar, and sickening crunching sounds as Akamaru's powerful jaws found their way to the others throat. Naruto broadened his search range and caught movement above. "Machi, Tenten!" One of Machi's massive shuriken and a handful of kunai shot upward and caught a figure on a roof before he could escape to sound the alarm.

They ran on.

"We are nearing the tower, " Gaara said as they rounded another bend.

Naruto could already hear some dim shouts and cries as they neared the main area of conflict. Naruto suddenly caught a heightened sense of anxiety in Shikamaru's chakra signature. He had been fairly quiet during the debriefing and the trip, but Naruto knew his friend had been on edge. And he knew why. He and Temari's relationship was a bit of a mystery to the rest of them. It had been going on a long time, far longer than most long-distance relationships. For a while, it had seemed to be only a casual friendship.

Naruto hadn't known they had become more intimate until an incident occurred soon after they had all moved into the Uchiha compound. Gaara had arrived unannounced for a meeting with Tsunade while Temari had already been there on Chuunin exam business. Gaara had finished with his meeting and had gone to look for his sister. What followed was something that would probably haunt Shikamaru for the rest of his life, mainly because no one was ever going to let him forget it. The rest of the Twelve had been gathered for breakfast in the main house when a shout was heard from the direction of Shikamaru and Choji's house. They were then treated to the sight of a half naked Nara, still pulling his pants up, pelting across the courtyard toward them with a tendril of sand chasing after him. He had launched himself through an open window and took refuge behind Naruto. "He won't kill you!" he had said, panting. No one in the room had said anything for a moment. Some were adding things up in their heads. Most had just never seen Shika move that fast.

Between Naruto and Temari, they had kept Gaara from killing Shikamaru that morning, and their liaisons had become a bit more clandestine for a while until he had gotten over it. When Naruto had finally convinced him that Shika truly cared for Temari, Gaara had at least stopped releasing killing intent every time he saw the shadow master. Now, feeling his fear, he knew he had been telling the truth. Naruto silently made Shikamaru the same promise he had made Gaara. He would let no harm come to the people of Suna.

And any harm that had come to them would be repaid on Iwa tenfold.

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**For anyone who might be wondering, Bunka no hi is a cultural holiday in Japan, a day to appreciate traditional art, music, food and such. Sounds like fun! See ya next time. (I've given up on saying I'll update sooner. With my work the way it is, it's more like I'll update as soon as I can)**

**Cheers!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Yay!! My life is finally back to normal. Or, as normal as my life gets. My mom is out of the hospital and is doing great. I am finally taking a well earned vacation from work. Shippuden comes out on DVD next month. Life is good. So here is the next chapter for your hopeful entertainment. :):):):);):P;D (Emotocon parade)**

**Wished I owned, but don't**

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There was a large plaza in front of the Kazekage tower, used mainly for open air markets and when the entire village needed to be addressed for some reason or another. Naruto remembered it to be a lovely oasis in the normally stark village landscape, full of shady desert trees and tinkling fountains. It was into this plaza the Konoha team streamed.

Straight into hell.

The brick paved ground was torn to shreds from multiple douton jutsus, but it was the bodies littering the ground all around that made the scene surreal. Naruto had to forcefully block out the overwhelming smell of the blood trickling between the cobbles. Luckily, at first glance, the majority of them seemed to be wearing Iwa uniforms, but there sure were a lot of them. That there were so few downed Suna nin impressed him. They had the smallest number of active duty shinobi of any of the other four great hidden villages, but their strength and ferocity more than made up for it.

He felt his teeth and nails lengthening, his senses heightening in response to the carnage around him. For the first time in years, he let it. In these close quarters his sage chakra powered jutsus were a liability. It was time for hand-to-hand fighting now. He felt his seal tingle on its cord against his chest, reacting to the chakra of his crystal. It had taken him and Tenzou nearly a week to perfect this solution to his furry little problem, but between the two fuuin users, they had been successful. The red chakra flowed through his body and stopped just short of oozing through his skin. That was as far as it would go. He could dimly hear the fox roaring out its frustration at being held back by not one but two seals. _"Yeah, well life's tough, furball."_

The shinobi fighting in the plaza were just becoming aware of their presence as the Konoha team moved past their leader, the wind of their passing whipping Naruto's haori against his legs. They all had their jobs to do, and moved seamlessly to do them. The heavy hitters, Neji, Hinata, and Lee, went with Sakura and Ino to support and protect them as they tried to save as many downed Suna nin as possible. (Though Sakura's angry yell and the sound of a bone breaking impact as a Iwa nin got in between her and an injured Chuunin told everyone that this precaution was a bit of a formality at best.)

The rest spread out in support of the ones still fighting. Alarm was starting to spread through the remaining Iwa ranks as the Konoha reinforcements plowed into them. Some along the edges of the plaza began to make a concerted effort to retreat._ "Leaving so soon?" _Naruto thought.

"Keep them here! Don't let any get away to warn the rest of the army!" he roared.

His team responded with a fury. Sasuke's sword was in constant motion as he mowed a path through the crowd, every so often a burst of static would radiate outward from his position. A swarm of Shino's insects rose above his head before descending on three foes as they tried to get past a team of Suna Chuunin and penetrate the village proper. Soon they were chakra-less husks laying on the cobbles. Choji had planted himself before the widest of the egresses, expanded to a massive thirty foot height, his arms coming together to crush any who were unfortunate to come in range. Naruto saw that Tenten and Kiba had the other exits covered, as a winged shadow swept across the ground. Sai was still in his role as lookout, making sure no reinforcements were about to come pounding down on the rest of them.

Naruto caught motion out of the corner of his eye as one of Machi's giant fumma shuriken did some mowing of its own. Konohamaru had his staff out, legacy from his grandfather, the brass capped tips impacting with deadly accuracy. Gone was the slightly goofy teen that still insisted on wearing Naruto's old goggles around his neck. Now he was focused, his brown eyes flint hard. Naruto had never been prouder of his two Chuunin.

Naruto, Gaara, and Kankuro hung back slightly, scanning the mille, looking for one particular head of sand blond hair in all the confusion. It was surprisingly tough. Sand and dust kicked up from the various jutsues being used was further whipped around by the ever present wind. It was becoming hard to tell friend from foe. Suddenly a huge gust of wind emanated, not from the desert, but from the center of the plaza. They just caught sight of the edges of Temari's massive battle fan as she raised it for another strike. They could tell her movements were just a trifle slower and more strained than usual. _"She must be nearing her limit,"_Naruto thought. As one they started in her direction, as her opponents closed in on the exhausted kunoichi. Naruto started to form his hands into his signature jutsu as sand began to stream out of Gaara's gourd.

"**Kage Nui no Jutsu**!!" an almost familiar voice suddenly roared out, making the people nearby jump and startling even Gaara out of his attack. Kankuro froze in mid stride, hands still reaching for his scrolls.

Naruto whipped his head around as a thick band of shadow shot past him and lifted off the ground. It broke into a multitude of tendrils that swept through Temari's opponents like a dozen deadly scythes. Naruto looked in surprise at the person before him. His normally mild brown eyes glittered, his teeth bared in a snarl of fury. For the first time since Asuma's death, they were seeing a truly pissed off Shikamaru.

A team of Jounin focused their attention on the enraged shadow user as he continued to pursue targets with his whips of inky black. One made for his back, until he was distracted by a kunai embedding itself into the top of his foot. He glanced down at it, shocked, and looked back up in the next second into a pair of solemn, red, slit pupil eyes. A tugging at his midsection made him look down again, at the tanto embedded in the front of his vest. He was dead before he had a chance to figure out what had happened to him.

Without looking, Naruto backhanded a Chuunin who was trying to circle around him, throwing him off balance. He responded with a flurry of kicks, all aiming at Naruto's face and chest. He ducked and wove, the Chuunin becoming increasingly frustrated by his inability to land a solid hit on the blond Jounin. Finally tired of their taijutsu match, Naruto's opponent backed up and began a series of hand signs that he knew would a douton jutsu, and a pain in the ass, just not one he immediately recognized. Unfortunately for the young man, his sign weaving was just a bit too slow. Pulling out another one of his special kunai, Naruto cast, made a sign, and teleported, all in one smooth motion. The Chunnin's eyes widened as realization struck him at about the same time as the fist to his head. There was a wet snap as his neck broke.

The remaining Jounin looked at Naruto, his eyes widening in horror. "It can't be. You're dead, everyone knows you're dead."

Naruto merely flicked a drop of blood from his sword. "It's true that the Yellow Flash is dead." The Jounin jumped as the blond disappeared momentarily, then suddenly reappeared over a kunai in the ground next to him he hadn't even noticed, and a soft voice whispered in his ear, "but his son isn't."

Naruto let the man drop as blood poured from the slit in his throat. He sighed mentally, as he did every time he killed. He looked around, but evidently word had started to spread, as everybody with a Iwa symbol in the immediate vicinity was either giving him a very wide berth or actively running away from him. "Boy, I could have used this reputation when I was a Gennin."

Soon after that, the fight was theirs. The Suna troops rallied and the remaining Iwa nin were hopelessly outnumbered. Without fanfare of fuss, they were all killed. There would be no one retuning to the main army.

The weary Konoha nin gathered in the center of the square, assessing personal injuries as well as those of their teammates while the Suna nin did the same. Lee had picked up a slight scalp wound that was bleeding all over the place, as scalp wounds usually did. Tenten was trying to get the still excited Lee to hold still long enough for her to bandage it until Ino or Sakura could look at it. One of Neji's Chuunin had a nasty gash in the side, and one of Hinata's had a dislocated knee. Aside from the usual bruises, nicks and cuts, that was it. All in all, not bad.

Shikamaru had a dusty, tired, Temari tucked securely under his arm, and for once her brothers didn't seem to mind. Naruto grinned at her as he let his features revert to normal. "Hey Temari-chan, how ya doing?"

"Would be a lot worse if you guys hadn't shown up when you did." She disengaged from Shikamaru to wrap her arms around Naruto. He was a bit startled at the gesture, but not too surprised. She had always been the more open of the three siblings. She had never really recovered from almost losing both of her brothers, and was a fierce supporter of both him and Sakura. "Hey big guy, thanks for coming."

"No problem, but you really should be thanking your boyfriend over there."

She gave Shikamaru a coy look over her shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll be getting his reward later." Naruto chuckled as the genius turned slightly red.

"Temari, " Gaara said, bringing her attention to him as she released Naruto. "How did these forces get in?"

She ran her hands through her sweaty hair, which, with all the dust in the air, was more mud colored than sand colored. "As far as we can tell, they got in the east gate. It would seem that Iwa has been continuing their trend of quantity over quality. Our guards at the gate were overrun, simple as that. But then something weird happened. Once a certain number gained entry, the ones you see here, the rest of the army abandoned them, pulled back, and formed that wall across the pass. If they had simply sent the entire army in, they would have swamped us and it would have been all over hours ago. But these poor bastards were just enough to make sure we were kept busy for a while."

"It did seem like that wall was more to keep people in than out. Maybe they're planning a siege, to starve us out or something," said Tenten.

Shikamaru shook his head. "You can't lay siege in a desert, Tenten. There's three hundred of them out there. They're going to run out of supplies faster than we are. No, they're planning something, something that could take out everyone in this village, so long as no one can leave."

Silence fell over the group as the implications hit them. Gaara finally spoke up. "Alright, we need to regroup and think about this some more. Rest, get treated for injuries and meet in my office in an hour. Naruto, keep your people away from the gates and under cover. There is still a good chance that the rest of the army is yet unaware of your presence."

There were some grumbles among the Chuunin at that, but pointed looks from the four captains stilled them. "That goes double for you, Gaara. I don't think they know you're here either," Naruto said with a slight grin.

Gaara blinked, as if that fact hadn't occurred to him, then nodded in agreement. "Temari, are all of the civilians safe?"

"As safe as they can be hiding in caverns while surrounded by douton users," Temari answered, ruefully.

--------------------------------------------------

A cold wind blew through the dark deserted streets as Naruto returned to Gaara's office. With all of the civilians evacuated to the caverns that were their refuge during attacks, it looked like a ghost town. He had just made sure the rest of the Konoha team were settled into their temporary quarters and that some of the Chuunin, certain members of his team especially, were behaving themselves. Most were not happy about their forced idleness. The Suna nin were posted on rooftops across the village and along the cliff wall, watching the too quiet Iwa encampment.

Sakura had started nodding off partway through their strategy meeting, her head slowly drooping onto Naruto's shoulder. Gaara had called for a futon to be brought to his office, and Naruto had carefully tucked his wife into it, where she had instantly dropped into exhausted sleep. Choji had scooped up a lightly snoring Ino a few minutes later and had quietly asked directions to their rooms. There had been some interesting looks exchanged among the rest of the twelve after he had left the room. No one said anything about it though, even the Suna Jounin. Sakura and Ino had worked tirelessly to the point of near chakra depletion, but every injured Suna nin, as well as the injured among the Konoha team, was now either stable or back on their feet and ready to fight.

Naruto glanced down at Sakura as he walked in the door and smiled. Drawing off his haori, he draped it over her, chuckling as she sleepily pulled it up against her chin. Gaara was sitting behind his desk, silently watching the exchange. Naruto sat down across from him and accepted the offered cup of tea. They sat in companionable silence for a while, before Gaara asked about the rest of the team.

"Everyone is settled in, though I had to threaten to tie up a couple of the hot heads to keep them from going to the walls."

Gaara raised an ironic eyebrow. "Not too long ago, you were one of those hot heads. It's interesting to see you like this, my friend."

Naruto cocked his head. "Like what?"

"Being a husband. Being a leader. Your peers respect you and trust you to lead them well. No offence, but to be honest, I would have expected the Hokage to put Hyuuga or Nara in the position."

Naruto laughed softly. " Trust me, so did I. She has a lot of faith in my abilities."

"Not to change the subject, but I have a question, " Gaara said as he pointed with his chin across the room. "Is he always like that?"

What he was referring to was Naruto's stubborn brother, who was sleeping propped up against the wall near the head of Sakura's futon. His head nodded over his crossed arms and his sheathed sword was across his lap. His face was obscured by his long bangs. Naruto rolled his eyes slightly. Sasuke had refused the offer of a room when Naruto had said he was planning on staying up with Gaara, who was still something of an insomniac, (old habits die hard) and discuss the upcoming battle.

Naruto grinned as he took a sip of his tea. "Yep, afraid so. It's a little annoying sometimes, but I can't tell him to just stop being overprotective."

"Why not?"

"Have you managed to stop Temari and Kankuro yet?"

"Good point."

"He's lost so many people in his life that, as much as he tries to deny it, he can't stand the thought of losing us. We're the only family he has left. Kakashi told me that he didn't sleep once while Sakura and I were missing after that tsunami on Crescent Moon. You have no idea how serious that is for him." Naruto smiled at Sasuke's slumped form. "Not that its changed our relationship or anything. He still never listens to me."

Gaara shook his head. "You know Naruto, I got ahead of you when I became Kazekage, at least in the responsibility department, but hearing you talk like this, I think you're going to surpass me now that you're married and will probably be Hokage soon."

Naruto chuckled again. "Hah, I'm not in that big a hurry to replace Baa-chan."

Gaara actually looked surprised. "I'm shocked to hear you say that. I thought you wanted to be Hokage as soon as possible."

"Nah, I'm young. I'll have plenty of time to wear the hat. _Not that I'm ever going to wear the damn hat. _I want to have a bit of a life first. Work on my family. Make more of a name for myself."

Gaara snorted at the thought that Naruto needed even more of a reputation than he already had, but asked curiously, "What made you think this way?"

"One word : paperwork. Like I want that right now when I have to hear Tsunade-baa-chan bitch about it all the time."

Gaara did something that almost knocked Naruto out of his chair. He looked at his own paper covered desk and laughed, a short barking laugh. " Temari was right. You actually are getting smarter the older you get."

Sakura smiled from her corner as her husband's bright laughter filled the room.

----------------------------------------------------

Tsunade sneezed as she sat at her desk, finishing the last couple of reports before retiring for the night. "There, done," she said with satisfaction, trying not to think about the fact that the pile of papers would magically reappear on her desk tomorrow for her to do all over again. "This calls for a celebration."

She was pouring a nice cup of sake when her moral conscience, otherwise known as Shizune, came walking through the door. She took one look and rolled her eyes.

"Tsunade-sama, it's midnight. Are you really going to start drinking sake at midnight?"

"Sake? Who said this was sake? I'm just having a nice refreshing cup of tea before I go off to bed and you're not buying a word of this, are you?"

"Nope."

"Damn."

Shizune's smile gentled a bit and she walked over to her mentor and friend's desk, took the cup out of her hand, and downed it in a single gulp. "It's alright, I'm worried about him too."

Tsunade pulled another cup out of her drawer and topped off both. She sighed as Shizune sat across from her. They stared at each other for awhile, lost in their own thoughts.

"I've just had this feeling-"

"That something bad is going to happen? Join the club." Tsunade grimaced slightly. "We just have to trust the brat. And the rest of them."

The Hokage looked out the window into the still night. The rest of the war party had left that morning. She hoped they made it in time.

------------------------------------------

"Naruto! Naruto, wake up!"

Naruto woke with a start from where he had fallen asleep next to Sakura sometime in the wee hours and looked blearily up at Kiba. He dimly noticed that it was right before dawn, judging from the scent of the air. "Wha-?"

"You've got to come to the gate right now!"

Naruto's eyes hardened as he levered himself up to stand nose to nose with Kiba. Or, as Naruto was a few inches taller than he was, nose to forehead. Akamaru whined softly as Sasuke stood up silently and came near, listening. Naruto stared into his friend and subordinate's eyes."You want to tell me why you decided to go to the gate even though you weren't supposed to."

"Trust me man, right now it doesn't matter if they know we're here or not," Kiba said with a touch of fear in his voice.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Something must be up if Kiba was this freaked out. He didn't scare easy.

"Naru?" Sakura's voice came groggily from the tangle of blankets at his feet. "What's going on?"

He knelt down and helped her pull the hair from her face."Go back to sleep, love. I need to go see what everyone's wigging out about."

She gave him a withering look as she pulled her self to her feet, clutching his arm as she shook the last bit of fatigue out of her mind. "Like hell, I'm fine."

He shook his head. He knew a lot of shinobi who were insanely jealous of how fast Sakura recovered from chakra exhaustion. Their old sensei was definitely one of them.

"Alright, lets go."

Seeing as there was no longer a need for secrecy, the four of them left directly from the windows and started across the rooftops. "Who's there already?"

Kiba, in his usual spot astride his partner, glanced over at Naruto, as if scoping out his mood. "Gaara, Kankuro, Hinata, and Team Gai. Gaara had sent Lee to go get everyone else up when I got there. He told me to go get you guys. He looked sort of concerned, well you know, concerned for Gaara."

That gave Naruto something to think about as they approached the north gate. Naruto had rarely been in this part of Suna, as Konoha lay to the east. This was more of a gate, as Naruto thought of one, than the narrow pass that served for the east. It was a massive wood and metal affair, made of logs that must have been transported across the desert from the forests of River Country. The logistics of such a construction must have been unreal.

Lined up along the top, behind a rail of sorts, was the Kazekage, his siblings, most of his Jounin, and the majority of the Konoha team. Kankuro had one of the powerful little spyglasses that Suna manufactured trained on a spot just past the main Iwa encampment. Naruto noticed a faint glow from the area in the pre-dawn light. It was an unsettling color, one he associated with wounds and bruises, a greenish, purplish color. Naruto landed lightly next to the puppet master, and got little to no response, he was so focused.

"What have we got?"

"I don't know, I only work here," Kankuro responded with a shrug. "Here, you take a look, you're better at this stuff than I am."

Naruto took the telescope and focused it on the area of the strange light. What he saw shocked him. Outlined in the sickly light was a huge seal. The figure of a young man, bound hand and foot, was lying in the center. Men in the robes of some sort of priesthood were moving around him in a set pattern. From what Naruto could see, they were still working on the sealing diagram, drawing in the illuminated lines with strange staffs.

"What kind of seal is that?" Kankuro asked. "I've never seen anything like it."

"The only figures I can make out at this distance are for containment. A couple of them are the highest level you can have. What the hell are they doing?"

As Naruto watched, the priests finished with the diagram and gathered in a circle around the motionless form of the young man.

Naruto was starting to get a really bad feeling.

Focusing chakra to his eyes, Naruto could just make out the expression on the face of the prisoner. It was one of ultimate pain and terror. The priests were swaying slightly, and Naruto had the suspicion that they were chanting something. Suddenly one raised a spear over his head, and Naruto sucked in his breath as he plunged it into the prisoner's chest.

The bruise colored chakra rose out of the seal, forming a pillar two hundred feet tall. All within, the priests, the prisoner, were instantly incinerated. Slowly a form began to take shape inside, massive and indistinct. All Naruto knew was that the scent of the chakra emanating from the seal was making the hair on the back of his neck stand up and causing something inside of him to sit up and prick its ears.

The form began to coalesce, and Naruto dimly felt Sakura clasp his arm in shock. Standing within the seal was a massive, red furred ape. Eighty feet tall, it stood on all fours, its knuckles digging deeply into the sand beneath it. It looked around it suspiciously, its human-like eyes narrowing as it survived its surroundings.

Four tails twitched behind it in agitation.

"Oh shit," Naruto groaned.

Naruto and Gaara traded looks, realizing the implications of this.

Konohamaru , standing nearby, looked at his captain in confusion. "What? Just what the hell is that thing?"

"The Yonbi," Naruto said, his heart sinking in his chest."They've just released a bijuu."

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**This seemed like a good place to stop. I have most of the next chapter stored in my head, so I can say with absolute certainty that it won't take me another two months to put out.(Maybe it just seems that long)**

**Thanks for reading, Cheers!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey all! So I got this out a bit sooner than last time. It was a lot of fun to write, so I hope you enjoy.**

**I still don't own Naruto**

**------------------------------------**

It was Konohamaru, as usual, who finally spoke up, seeing as everyone else standing on top of Suna's north gate all looked like they had been hit in the back of the head with a board.

"So…now what?"

His voice broke the rest out of their daze as they stared at the mind numbing sight of a massive four-tailed ape standing not a quarter of a mile away. Gaara, as always, was the first to recover. He glanced at Naruto standing next to him and noticed his slightly dazed expression, the way his eyes were turning a muddy red involuntarily. _The Kyuubi must be making his feeling known, _he thought as he gripped his friends arm."Naruto. Naruto, block him out."

A few seconds, and Naruto shook his head slightly and joined the rest of the world. "Damn furball," he growled, rubbing his temple.

Sakura peered up at him in concern. "What is it? What is he doing?"

"Nothing except bitching at me nonstop since the Yonbi appeared. Evidently, they don't get on. Kyuubi is pretty pissed that he can't get out and fight that thing. Pissed enough that he's producing enough chakra to push through Tenzou's seal. " He noticed everyone's alarmed expressions and grinned slightly. "Don't worry, he's not going anywhere, it's just that I'm not going to be able to block out the commentary very easily."

Gaara started to say something, but was interrupted by an amplified voice coming from the camp below them.

"**Defenders of Suna! You haveone hour to surrender before we release this demon onto your village. If you accept our offer you must give up all ties to Konoha, and your fighting forces will be taken into our own. If you do not accept, this village and everyone in it will be destroyed. You have one hour, choose well."**

Naruto took his eyes off of Gaara's somewhat insulted and indignant looking face to bring the spyglass up to his eye again. He enhanced his vision as far as he could and studied the seal containing the pacing Yonbi. His sudden whistle and bark of grim laughter made the people standing nearest him jump. "I always knew most Iwa nins were kinda out there, but I didn't know they were **that** crazy."

Everyone looked at him expectantly as he continued to study the seal, until it became obvious that he wasn't going to explain himself anytime soon. "And?" Kankuro snapped impatiently.

"Oh. Sorry. You know that oh so generous hour time limit they just gave us. Well, in an hour, they're just as screwed as we are. In an hour, that containment seal is going to drop no matter what any of us do. I can practically see it eroding as we talk. Either they don't know, or this is a one time deal."

"It might have some thing to do with those priests," Gaara mused. " I've read about certain sects that worship the bijuu like gods. They might have gone along with Iwa's plans just to release the Yonbi."

As the rest tried to digest this information, Naruto suddenly stiffened. The Yonbi had quit it's pacing and seemed to lock it's eyes on them. Or, more precisely, on Naruto. As they watched, his eyes started flashing between red and blue, as his whiskers slowly started to deepen.

Gaara stepped forward and placed a firm hand on the blonde's shoulder, shifting his focus away from the object of the Kyuubi's dislike. "Before we go off half cocked, we need to talk about options. But not here. There is a shaded roof two blocks away. Let's go there and discuss things." And with that, he disappeared in a swirl of sand.

Naruto shook his head, his eyes once more a clear blue. "I hate it when he's always right. Alright gang, Chuunin, stay here and keep watch with the Suna nins. The rest of us will be right back. That goes for you too, Konohamaru," he added when the teen looked rebellious for a moment. A moment later, all of the Jounin vanished after the Kazekage.

They reconvened on the aforementioned roof a moment later, and a loud babble of voices erupted seconds later, everybody trying to talk at the same time, until Gaara and Naruto called them to order.

"What I want to know is where they got that thing," Kiba said. "I thought all the other bijuu had been sealed away by Akatsuki."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Kiba. "While this discussion is kind of moot now, obviously they unsealed it. We never did find the containment statue Neji saw that one time in that cave in River Country, it wasn't in their base in Ame. Evidently, someone found it. Either that or enough time has passed that the demons found a way to release themselves, though I think we would have heard about that by now."

Lee, in one of his serious moments,brought up a good point. "So, what's to stop them doing this seven more times after this? If they lose the Yonbi, they could just go back for another one. Maybe a stronger one." There was more muttering at that.

Naruto whistled and got everyone's attention. "That is going to have to wait. Right now we have," he looked at the sun," forty five minutes to figure out what to do with large and hairy out there."

"Well, we have to look at it this way," Neji said thoughtfully." How do you stop a bijuu. What do we know about them?"

Kiba snorted. "It can't be too tough if Akatsuki was able to capture it. And Naruto beat the one tail with just a summons."

Gaara shook his head at that. "When the Akatsuki captured the other bijuu, the demons were limited by their host's human bodies. Even Shukaku was limited by my ability to stay asleep. All Naruto had to do was wake me up, and Shukaku lost his power. In their natural state, their power is stronger, but less refined. They need their hosts to perform high level jutsu and fine control work."

"So, it's more like a force of nature when not inside someone?" Choji asked.

"Pretty much. That's how all the history books describe the Kyuubi's attack. I mean, the Yondaime and every shinobi in Konoha couldn't defeat the Kyuubi. I guess the best way to neutralize a force of nature is with a stronger one," Shikamaru mused.

Kiba snorted. "That's great. So where are we going to get a stronger dem…on?" his voice trailed off as everyone looked at Naruto.

Sakura glared at Kiba,who shrank back from the KI she exuded for a moment, then glanced up at her husband's face. She had expected him to be angry, or at least a little put out. He normally hated even the thought of using the Kyuubi's power. She was therefore somewhat taken aback by the strange expression there, one of thoughtful determination. The other strange thing was that he and Sasuke seemed to be in the middle of one of the silent conversations they got into sometimes, neither one blinking as they stared into each others eyes. The others just watched, not privy to the exchange.

It was Sasuke who finally broke the silence. "No."

Naruto grinned, a certain shit-eating grin that usually caused his friends to cringe and his enemies to run. "Come on, it'll work."

"No it won't."

"Sure it will. You can do it."

" No I can't, you're insane."

Naruto placed his palm against his chest dramatically. "What? The great Uchiha admitting he can't do something."

Sasuke glared at him, knowing better than to take that bait. "I will when it's as stupid as this."

The rest began to feel like they were observing a ping-pong match.

"It's not like you haven't done it before."

"Yes, but that was almost three years ago, and you weren't even at three tails."

"Phssh. Details."

"What the hell are you two talking about!" The two brothers looked over at an exasperated Kiba.

"He thinks Sasuke can control the Kyuubi." Naruto winced at the flat tone in Sakura's voice.

"And I think it's a stupid idea." Sasuke had his arms crossed.

"Madara used the Mangekyou to set the Kyuubi on Konoha twice, and I've seen you do some pretty impressive things with it."

"Yes, and after the first time, Madara went blind and ripped the eyes out of his brother. Even Itachi was almost completely blind by the time he died. I'm already having problems and so is Kakashi, which is why I haven't used it more than a few times in the past three years. What if my eyes fail before we contain the fox again?"

" You won't fail. Besides, we have something that Madara and Itachi didn't. Sakura. She can counteract any harm you do to your eyes before the damage is permanent."

"But-."

"Nii-san." Sasuke's protests were stilled at that one serious word. He reluctantly met his brother's blue eyes. "Do you really think I like the idea of you going blind? It would kill me, Sasuke. But I don't see as we have much choice right now. When that thing gets loose in forty minutes, a lot of people are going to die. It might be us, it might be the Iwa troops, or it may leave and go for a civilian village. We can't take that chance. I don't really care right now which. No matter what side you're on, that is a pretty fucked up way to die."

It looked like Sasuke would have loved to keep arguing, but after a moment of furiously trying to come up with a new point to contest, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Okay, okay, we'll try it. Though we have no idea exactly what is going to happen."

Naruto grinned again. "I know, that's what makes it interesting." He turned to the Kazekage. "Gaara, we need to get clear of the village, but be safe from any Iwa patrols. Got anything?"

Gaara thought for a minute. "Yes, up the stairs that lead to the elders retreat, where Chiyo-sama and Ebizou-samaused to live, there is a passage to the top of the butte above the village. It is impossible to see unless you are actually looking for it. I used to go up there a lot to think."

"Sounds good." Naruto turned to his friends, none of which looked particularly happy about all this. No one said anything, though. They knew that time was short, if they did anything, it would have to be now, and no one had come up with a better idea. Naruto clasped hands with Neji and accepted a hug from Hinata. Soon all of them were crowded around him patting his shoulder, clapping him on the back, or ruffling his hair.

"Hey guys, stop looking like you're going to a funeral. This will work." He tried to sound confident, though his stomach was doing back flips at the very idea of what he was about to try. He shook hand with Gaara, then turned to the one person he was afraid to look at.

He opened his mouth as he turned to Sakura, but she quickly placed her hand over his mouth. "I know. This is what it means to fight next to someone. Sometimes you have to fight without them, let them go their own way. It's the same with marriage, I guess. I trust you to come back to my side when you're done. But." And she griped the front of his vest in an iron grip."You better not make this a habit. You clear."

"Crystal," he said as he swept her up in a crushing embrace while she tried to fight back tears. "Always, I will always come back. And I would never want anyone else at my side." He smiled crookedly. "Believe it." She giggled a bit and met his mouth for one last heartfelt kiss before she let him go.

"Love you, " she said, loosing herself in his blue eyes, full of emotion, one last time before she gave Sasuke a hug. "Take care of each other. I couldn't loose either of you." Sasuke unbent enough to wrap his arms around her for a moment before joining his brother.

Naruto turned to the group His face was solemn for once. "Shika, you're in charge. If for some reason this doesn't work, do what you can to try and save as many as possible." He looked at Sakura one last time. "Love you, wife."

Then, in a swirl of sand, he and Sasuke were gone.

The rooftop was silent for a moment, as a "what the hell just happened?" feeling came over the team. It was Shikamaru who got everyone back on track. "Okay, back to the gate. Either way, something is going to happen in the next 30 minutes, and I want to be there when it happens."

-------------------------------------

Even Naruto was slightly winded by the time he and Sasuke made it to the top of the long winding staircase that opened up on the top of the plateau. He was pretty sure they had broken some speed records getting up here with twenty minutes to spare. They surveyed the area before stepping onto the level ground. Nothing moved, or even grew, on the bare rock. A few outcroppings dotted the surface, providing a bit of shade.

By mutual consent, they move quickly out of the already hot morning sun and into the shelter of the nearest pile of boulders.

"Is it too late to say again what a bad idea this is?" Sasuke said with a sigh as he sat with his back against a rock.

"Yup."

Sasuke just snorted as Naruto chose a spot several yards away. They had discussed a course of action on the way, and figured it might be safer if Naruto placed himself just at the limit of Sasuke's range, as it was unknown what exactly was going to happen. Hell, everything about this was unknown. Sasuke had only seen one Jinchuuriki so in sync with his bijuu, and not just in sync. The Jinchuuriki of the eight tail had actually gotten along with his demon, while Naruto and the Kyuubi barely tolerated each other. This was going to be one of the hardest things he had ever tried to do.

"Is this too far?" Naruto asked, wiggling a bit to get comfortable.

"You're still in my range."

Naruto sighed. "Okay, let's do this." And with that, he looked up and met his brother's red eyes.

------------------------

For the first time in three years, Naruto found himself in front of the great cage. He was startled for a moment as he noticed that the floor was dry for once. _Hmm, interesting_, he thought idly. He couldn't help but glance around him wistfully. Though he knew in his heart it was impossible, he wished he could talk to his father again.

The Kyuubi was in a rather corporeal form this time, the great head resting on crossed paws near the golden bars, tails fanned out behind. As Naruto stepped into the room, the huge red eyes opened a crack, though the fox kept his indolent pose.

"Hmmm. Haven't seen you in a while. Actually, with that damn seal of your wood using friend's, I haven't seen much of anything for a few years. Been damn boring. Though with the Yonbi out there, your life is about to get interesting. I suppose you want my help with that. Sorry, don't do requests anymore." The eyes closed.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the fox's mild words, especially considering how irate he had been earlier. Ordinarily he would have been screaming at him by now. No matter. "This is your lucky day, you big pain in my ass. You're about to have an interesting time today, too. I'm done requesting."

The fox lifted his head at that, a snarl starting deep in his throat. "Oh yeah, kid. You think so?"

Naruto grinned. "No, I know so."

At that, Sasuke walked around the corner into the room and caught the startled bijuu's gaze with his own. The fox tried to move his head, to wrench his eyes away from the idly spinning wheels, but it was too late. "No! Not this again! My mind will not be taken over by another puny Uchiha!"

"Hah! Too late furball." He looked over to where Sasuke was suddenly leaning against the wall. "So? How you holding up?"

Sasukegritted his teeth. "Not too bad, so far. I think I can give us some time to work with. I'm going to have a hell of a headache later, though. You ready?"

"Yeah! Hit me!"

The fox began to howl as chakra began to drain from it through the bars and onto Naruto.

On the plateau, a still, dark haired form sat slumped forward as a blond figure nearby began to thrash on the ground. Flame colored chakra began to ooze out of the body, and many of his friends who had seen this phenomenon before would recognize the form the chakra began to take.

One tail, two, three, four and the chakrabegan to solidify, five, six and a bone structure could be seen, seven, eight, muscles covered the bone, nine….

---------------------------------------

Shikamaru was counting down the minutes on his watch. Man, this was cutting it close. From where they were, even they could see the great seal breaking up. The Iwa nin were noticing too, and were trying too give it some space while still staying in formation.

"_Like that's going to help_," Shikamaru thought wryly.

He glanced around. The chakra from the bijuu was starting to make itself felt through the eroding seal, and some of the Chuunin and the few Gennin had to be taken from the gate and moved farther into the village as the oppresive miasma washed over them. The Jounin were holding up fine though. It was a grim crew who were left, though. All were thinking of missing friends and unreasonable odds. Sakura was standing firm next to Ino, but his sharp eyes picked up the fact that she was leaning on his blond teammate slightly for comfort. However, her face was resolute.

A sudden flare of demonic chakra hit them, bringing their focus to the Yonbi. There was a calculating expression on it's human-like face. Suddenly it charged the barrier on all fours and rammed its shoulder into it. It held, but barely. Shika could see large gaps in the energy field. The huge ape backed up. "Look out, here it comes!"

If those two crazy bastards were going to do something, it had better be soon.

The Yonbi ran forward on its hind legs and brought it's massive fists down. The barrier cracked, then exploded outward in a wave of light and demonic energy that flattened all the tents in the camp and tried to push the defenders right off the top of the gate. The Yonbi stood still for a moment, sniffing the air and lashing it's tails. It seemed as if it were trying to decide whether to go after the army scrambling away frantically across the dunes, or the gate with the row of shinobi lined up on top. It made a step in their direction.

"Naruto, hurry," moaned Sakura.

As if in answer, a large boulder bounced and clattered from the top of the cliff, causing both humans and bijuu to look up.

"Holyyy ssshit!" Kankuro whistled.

Perched at the top of the cliff, front paws braced against a ledge partway down, heavy ears pined flat against it's head, was the Kyuubi. The red-gold hackles were raised aggressively, and it's tails thrashed erratically against the ground. It pulled back it's lips, showing yards long fangs. Suddenly it opened it's maw and blasted the Yonbi with a roar, as if issuing a challenge.

The Yonbi didn't take well to this, and roared back, baring its teeth and beating it's chest, creating a hollow, booming sound. The noise was deafening to those on the gate.

The Kyuubi bunched, then launched itself off the cliff, reaching the red-furred ape in a few bounds. With the sound of an avalanche, the two titans clashed, the ape standing on two legs, trying to bring it's powerful hands to bear on the fox, while the fox lashed it with it's tails and stayed just out of reach. All this was going on nearly a half of a mile away from the gate, but due to the size of the combatants, it really didn't seem like it. Shikamaru was expecting one to fall in their laps at any minute.

"So, is that Naruto, or the Kyuubi?" Hinata finally asked. Neji glanced at his cousin, then over to Shikamaru. "Shika? What do you think?"

"Don't look at me. I'm terrified beyond all rational thought."

"It's Naruto."

They all looked at Kiba, who hadn't taken his eyes off the fight.

"How do you know?" Shikamaru asked.

"It's the way he's moving, like he's not quite used to the form yet. It's just like the first time an Inuzuka uses beast mimicry. It takes some time to get used to four legs. No, it's Naruto. Look at the way he's fighting. How many demons make it up as they go like he does?"

It was true. As they watched, the fox dug two of it's tails into the sand and swept it into the ape's eyes. As the Yonbi brought it's hands up to brush the sand out, Naruto came in low, trying for a throat hold. Sensing danger, the ape swept a huge fist blindly around and caught the fox in the ribs right behind the foreleg. Naruto yelped and crashed into a dune, winded.

"See, he's still learning how to move."

"I don't get it though," Konohamaru groused. "I thought their power came from how many tails they had. Wouldn't nine trump four hands down?"

"Yes, but that's not Kyuubi," Gaara answered. "That is Naruto wearing the Kyuubi's form. He lacks the fox's experience and command over his power. Besides, you are thinking of when a human tries to fight a bijuu. Their chakra is so intense, that you are burned when you come in contact with it, When bijuu fights bijuu, that is not a factor, so it is more physical." He actually winced as Naruto took a massive blow to the head, and crashed into another dune. "Very physical."

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Naruto pulled himself to his feet and glared at the Yonbi. He was starting to get the hang of this body, and it was getting easier to move. Luckily his normal learning curve was up to the task of figuring out how to fight as a quadruped. His head was ringing, though. He had to do something about those fists. Even in this form, he couldn't take too many more hits like that last. Blood was running from his nose and one ear, and his sense of balance was slightly off.

Having a concussion sucked enough on two legs.

This fight was different than what he had expected. Naruto had halfway expected to be able to shoot fireballs or something, but it was more a battle of tooth and claw. Unfortunately, the ape was stockier and heavier than he was, with a slightly lower center of gravity. Naruto was going to have to hope that he was smarter and faster. Well, right now, at least smarter. Naruto started to limp slightly and list to the side, as if his ribs were paining him.

The ape, sensing that there was something wrong with this Kyuubi and becoming overconfident, took the bait and rushed toward him,sweeping it's fists to the side again, aiming for his spine. Quick as a thought, the fox contorted his lithe body to the side and brought his jaws down one hairy arm in a bone crusher of a bite, right above the elbow. The ape yowled and began to thrash around, pulling the lighter fox off his feet and flipping him into the air. Naruto grimly hung on, even grounding his teeth in tighter. The two massive bodies crashed into the camp, crushing anyone not fast enough to get out of the way. What wasn't crushed was incinerated by the overpowering demonic chakra. Naruto spared a thought to the people dieing beneath him, but had other pressing things to worry about.

The ape began to beat Naruto around the head with it's other fist, but without the leverage of both arms, the blows were not at full power. As his paws made contact with the ground with a thump, Naruto dug in and began to pull. He really didn't have the physiology for this kind of bulldog fight, but with all four feet and even his tails dug into the sand, he was able to keep the ape off balance. Getting a better grip, he began to shake his head, like a terrier with a really big rat. The ape howled louder as dark blood fell like rain on the sand. With a final shake that strained the corded muscles in his neck and shoulders, Naruto felt the bone snap beneath his teeth. He let go and sprang back as the Yonbi roared out it's fury.

One arm down, the ape was more cautious, circling Naruto unsteadily, keeping him always in sight. Naruto really wanted to finish this soon. Every second this fight went on, Sasuke had to keep the Mangekyou activated, sapping his strength and damaging his eyes. He wasn't willing to put his brother's health on the line any longer than he had to.

The two bijuu circled each other for a moment, tails lashing and teeth bared, before Naruto charged, claws kicking up gouts of sand. The Yonbi braced itself and raised it's good arm in preparation. When Naruto was a few yards away he gathered his haunches under him and sprang into the air, right over the ape. He landed lightly behind it and, quick as a cat, turned on himself and reversed direction. Before the Yonbi could turn, Naruto was on it's back, tails wrapped around it's waist and teeth burying themselves in the back of it's neck. The Yonbi staggered under his weight for a moment before bringing it's good hand up and latching it around one of Naruto's tender ears. His howl of pain was muffled by his muzzle buried in the thick red hair, but he did not loose his hold. Rivers of blood ran down the ape's back as the fox's claws dug great furrows in the flesh. Bunching every muscle he had and using his tails for leverage, Naruto began to twist his head, intent on breaking his foe's neck. The Yonbi continued to tug painfully on the ear in it's grasp while whirling around in a circle, trying to dislodge it's passenger. It threw itself over onto it's back, crushing the breath out of Naruto with its weight, but Naruto hung on, still torqueing his body. His vision began to blacken around the edges as lack of oxygen became a factor. If he blacked out, it was over.

_Like hell_, he thought.

Naruto brought his hind legs up and began raking them down the Yonbi's back, knocking hair and skin loose with every stroke. The ape howled and flipped itself around, letting go of the fox's ear and trying to get it's arms under it. The broken arm buckled under it's weight, causing the ape to crash face first into the sand. With a final violent twist Naruto got the leverage he needed to snap the ape's neck with a wet crunch. A shudder went down the massive body, then it was still. Naruto released his grasp and just lay on top of the body for a moment, sides heaving as he tried to get his breath back. He disengaged his tails from where they had been wrapped firmly around the ape's waist and gingerly stepped away. Every bone in his body hurt.

A faint cheering could be heard from the direction of Suna, and he looked in their direction and gave a jaunty wave of his tails to those on the gate. His eyes went right to the dot of pink. He looked down at the camp, crushed practically beneath his feet. The survivors of the Iwa army were ranged along dunes on the other side. He made a big show of crouching and springing in their direction. They scattered and started running, and he ran for a few strides, like he was prepared to chase them all the way back to their own country. On figure tripped and fell a few yards away from his paw, and he gazed down at it curiously. Long robes marked him as one of the priests, fancy robes marked him as the head priest. Naruto leaned over the man as he gibbered in fear. For the first time since taking this form, he spoke.

"How do you fell about releasing demons on the world now?"

The priest cowered beneath the power of his voice. "We meant no disrespect, Great One. We sought only to free your brothers from their prison."

"Hmmph. And make a buck while you're at it. How much was Iwa paying you?"

"Why, they promised us sacrifices for you gods, Great One."

Naruto snorted, blowing sand around wildly. "You know what? Wrong answer."

Before the man could move, Naruto scooped him up in his jaws and held him there. Not even knowing how he was doing it, he began to ruthlessly root around in the priest's mind. Finally, he found what he was looking for, the location of the Sealing Statue. As if disgusted by a taste in his mouth, he unceremoniously spit the man out in the sand. By this time though, the man was dead of chakra poisoning.

Naruto turned back toward Suna as what was left of the Iwa army retreated and kept retreating. He made, not for the gate, but for the cliff he had descended. It was time to get back to his brother.

With one last glance at the dot of pink on the gate, the giant fox sprang lightly up the cliff and was gone.

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**Whoo! That was fun! To be continued.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey all! Here you go. I tried not ( really!! ) to keep you hanging for too long. It's been a crazy month. I've been sick a lot and didn't want to inflict on you ,my readers, the feverish ramblings of my addled brain. (That sentence should let you know that A. I am feeling better, or B. my word-of-the-day toilet paper is having an effect. :D ) I wrote a paragraph the other day, went back and read it ,and it was like "Now what in the….?" "sigh"**

**Still don't own. But yay!! Shippuden is out!! Only four episodes for twenty dollars, though. Think I'll wait for the box set.**

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The giant fox lay sphinx-like near the still form, head bowed, nine tails spread across the rock like a ladies fan. The kitsune's red-gold fur shone in the bright desert sun, as if someone, in a fit of whimsy, had carved it out of a solid piece of carnelian. The great sides bellowed in and out with every breath, and blood oozed sluggishly out of one ear, but that was the only movement on the plateau. The fox's eyes were tightly shut, its brow furrowed slightly. Every breath caused the ebon hair of the slumped figure before it to whip around, but otherwise that form too was still as death.

Suddenly, the fox's outline began to blur. Wisps of flame colored energy broke away and drifted around, like birds looking for a place to roost. As more and more chakra broke away, the fox began to shrink, dwindling into a smaller and smaller form. Soon it was impossible to see any shape at all in the cloud of energy. As if in a strong wind, the chakra started to spin into a vortex concentrated into a single point. It began to drain away faster and faster, disappearing from the world. The maelstrom scoured the sandstone surface of the plateau, kicking up a great cloud of dust and obscuring everything, until, slowly, the wind lessened and the dust began to settle. Soon the sun once again shone heavily on the rocks, and on the blond man laying facedown on them.

Naruto lay still for a long moment, breathing like he had just run a race and taking stock of exactly where he hurt. The conclusion he came up with was, everywhere. All the damage he had taken in the fight with the Yonbi had remained, and knowing how pissed the Kyuubi probably was at him right now, he had the feeling he would be healing the slow way. He could feel a couple of cracked ribs, he still had a concussion, and it felt like someone had tried to rip one of his ears off. His skin was raw and peeling away in places, like usual when he used more than three tails worth of the fox's chakra. He was also feeling muscles he didn't even knew he had, probably ones that didn't get too stretched when you walked on two legs. All and all, he just wanted to lay here, maybe for a few days, maybe forever. But laying in the punishing sun was a bad idea when you were wearing black clothing, even ones that were now in shreds like his. But even more pressing, was that he also needed to see what kind of shape his brother was in.

With agonizing slowness, Naruto levered himself up, first on his knees, then to his feet. He stood, swaying for a moment, before stumbling the few steps to Sasuke's slumped figure. His head was down, chin resting on his chest. Sasuke had been letting his blue/black hair grow to near the same length as Naruto's lately, and it curtained down to conceal his face. Naruto had to get close and crouch down right in front of him to get an idea of his condition. To his relief, he seemed to be breathing steadily. Outwardly, he looked fine, like he had just been taking a nap. The only sign of what he had been doing was his pale (even for him) complexion and the bloody tracks running down his face from his eyes. He reached out to gently shake Sasuke's shoulder. "Hey, teme. You awake?"

Only years of sparing that had made him as familiar with the length of Sasuke's kusanagi as he was with his own beloved tanto let him move his head back just enough to let the tip of the sword slide harmlessly past his nose. Naruto's unsteady legs gave out with the movement, however, and he stumbled back to fall ingloriously on his butt as the sword came to rest in its sheath across its wielders lap once more.

"Shit! Sasuke, it's me!"

One extremely bloodshot onyx eye opened a crack, and a familiar smirk appeared. "What makes you think I didn't know that?" The eye slid shut.

Naruto tried to retort, but it was too late, Sasuke was out again. Naruto shook his head and waited, but his brother showed no sign of regaining consciousness any time soon. He didn't need Sakura there to tell him that Sasuke was probably suffering from profound chakra exhaustion. He was barely registering in his senses. Bad thing was, he was in the same boat. "Well, damn. I guess if we want out of this sun, it's going to be up to me."

He stooped and cautiously picked up the sword, waited a moment to see if this got any kind of violent reaction, then stuck it in his own belt. He somehow arranged Sasuke over his shoulders in a fireman's carry and stood with a groan. His shoulders were going to be killing him before long, but Sasuke could wake up at any time, and, even as weak as he was, there would be hell to pay if he found himself being carried piggy back. He was still going to be annoyed at being carried at all, but this was the lesser of two evils. Slowly, he made his way to the top of the steps and looked down. He moaned to himself. "This is going to suck. I'm already tired, now I have to carry your heavy ass down all those stairs. That, and Sakura's going to kill both of us when she sees how messed up we are."

"Hn."

"You awake again? Wait, you're awake and you're letting me carry you? You must be messed up worse than I thought."

"No, I'm just barely tired enough to not care."

"Whatever. You just want a free ride. How about I stop partway down and you can carry me the rest of the way?"

No answer. He sighed.

Stairs they had set a speed record going up now took forever to go down. There were a few exciting moments when Naruto stumbled on the steep stairway, but Sasuke didn't stir again. His limpness was a sign that he was well and truly out for the count. Naruto wasn't surprised. He had been around Sharingan users for most of his career. He knew how much the Mangekyou took out of Sasuke and Kakashi. Kakashi was usually laid up for at least a few days after using it. Usually more like a week. Naruto could count on Sasuke being flat for at least that long ,if not more, after what he had just done.

Finally they reached the bottom of the stairs. Naruto stood still for a moment, wanting to take a rest, but unwilling to put his brother down. He was considering finding a shady spot and letting any searchers come to them, when a noise and slight scent alerted him. People coming his way. People he didn't know. He was hoping for civilians, but it just wasn't his lucky day. Two ninja appeared from a nearby alleyway. All hopes that they were friendlies was shot down when he say their Iwa symbols. "Damn," Naruto thought. "We must have missed a couple yesterday. Just my frigg'in luck."

"Well, well. Look what we have here," one said, a burly man with his hitai-ate tied around his bicep. "I think we just found our ticket out of this hell hole."

"Too right," chimed the other, a shortish bald man. "So nice for these hostages to walk right up and volunteer."

Naruto sighed. Where was his evil "Iwa Bogyman" reputation when he needed it? He guessed covered in dust and with his skin peeling off, they didn't recognize him. Oh well. He could sense that they were about high chuunin, low jounin level. Easy enough for him to deal with ordinarily, but not when he could barely stand and had an unconscious lump on his back.

He was so tired.

He put on a big show of rolling his eyes, standing hipshot and unconcerned. "As fun as that sounds guys, could we do this later? It's too damn hot, and you have no idea how tired I am. How about you two wait right here, I'll go get some sleep, then I'll come back and kick your asses later, ok?"

The two blinked a few times and looked at each other. His reaction was obviously not what they had been expecting. Or they thought he was mental.

They looked back to see Naruto look past them and grin suddenly. "Never mind, you win. We can finish this now."

Burly cocked his head. "You have a head injury or something, kid?"

"Actually, yeah. You might want to look behind you."

Burly turned his head at the non-sequiter just in time to see a black gloved fist, incoming fast. He then felt the unpleasant sensation of his cheekbone being pulverized as he rocketed off the ground and smashed into a nearby building. His partner had barely turned in his direction when he was knocked backward by a vicious Juuken strike to the chest. He stumbled, tried to recover, then was thoroughly flattened into the pavement by an oversized fist. Naruto grinned. Kami, he loved his team.

Naruto's smile grew wider as his two favorite kunoichi rushed up to him as Choji ambled slowly behind, scanning the area for more trouble. "I am so lucky to have a wife with a good sense of timing."

"And I'm so lucky to have a husband who I'm having to heal constantly," Sakura responded, with a small smile to take any sting out of her words. Naruto could see the relief shining in her eyes. She reached up to brush her hand down his whiskered cheek briefly while Choji helped to lower Sasuke to the ground. Sakura started to run her hands over Naruto, but he gently shooed her away. "Check on Sasuke's eyes first. I'm alright, just tired mostly."

Sakura took in the way the muscles in his arms and legs were trembling slightly, the areas where his skin was peeling away in an all too familiar fashion, the fact that he seemed to be having trouble focusing his eyes, and snorted. "Just tired, huh? Fine, Hinata can start checking you over." Sakura knelt on the ground and lifted Sasuke's head onto her lap, removing her gloves and cupping her hands over his closed eyes. Green chakra began to seep through the lids as she closed her eyes to concentrate. Naruto watched anxiously, as Hinata helped him out of his shredded haori and battered jounin's vest. He sighed in slight relief as she began to smear salve over the raw places on his arms and back, cooling and numbing them at the same time.

"Damn Naruto," said Choji, shaking his head at the injuries. "Can't you once come out of a fight without looking like you lost in a really big way?"

Hinata snorted a laugh. "Choji, how long have we known him? Of course he can't."

Naruto chuckled ruefully, but stopped when he felt the pinch in his ribs. "What can I say guys, I'm a masochist. Sooo? What's happening with Iwa? If you three are this calm, all hell can't be breaking loose out there."

Choji hunkered down next to him so he wasn't looming, since he noticed his friend's eyes were having a bit of trouble focusing on him. "As far as we can tell, they've scattered to the four winds and are still running like they think you're going to chase them down and eat them. Shika sent most of the team, along with several of the Suna jounin, to follow them to make sure they're not just retreating to regroup. We also got a hawk from our backup. They're about four hours away. They circled around to come in behind the army. Except now the army's not there."

Naruto relaxed a bit. "That ought to confuse whoever Baa-chan sent. Well, they might as well keep coming. Iwa still might try to get something out of this disaster. We just might need them in six hours." He noticed Sakura's eyes open. "Sakura, how is he?"

Sakura took her hands away from Sasuke's face and wiped her brow. "I've fixed most of the damage to the corneas. Now all they need to do is rest for a few days." She rummaged around in the pockets of her tan medic's vest for a moment before coming up with gauze and some bandaging. She gently placed the gauze over his eyes and began winding the bandages around his head.

Unfortunately, the world's worst patient chose that moment to regain consciousness. He reached up, felt the padding on his eyes, then began to irritably push it off. "Sakura, I don't need this on. I'm fine," he growled.

Sakura batted his hands away and rapped him sharply on the forehead, her knuckles pinging off of the metal of his hitai-ate. He growled again, this time in mild vituperation. She ignored his ire. "You're fine when I tell you you're fine. You need to keep your eyes closed. Too much light and my repair work will be compromised. That, and you have chakra exhaustion. Kami, if I knew you would be this grouchy when you woke up, I would have knocked you out for the next day or two. I have to do the same thing to Kakashi, or he sneaks out of the hospital. What is it about the Sharingan that turns you two into macho idiots?"

Sasuke kept muttering oaths under his breath, but didn't try anything else. Sakura knew he was too weak to carry out any of his threats anyway, not that he would. A few seconds later he was out cold again, so that solved that problem.

Naruto was chuckling weakly at his family's antics, and as Sakura watched, his eyes slowly rolled up in his head and he slumped over onto Hinata's shoulder. The Hyuuga braced herself against the dead weight and giggled as Sakura shook her head in mock exasperation. "Well, there goes the other one. This will make things a little easier. I swear, I don't have a brother and a husband, I have two children." She went over and began to run a diagnostic on said husband as Choji propped him up. "Just tired?" she grunted. "Just tired, my ass. His chakra level is lower than I've ever seen it, he has a concussion, three broken ribs, he's missing half the skin on his body, and the Kyuubi is healing him a lot slower than usual. Just tired. Jeez. Come on guys, lets get these two back to the tower. "

Sakura and Hinata lifted the blond and draped him over Choji's back. This was the main reason she had brought Choji with her. Seeing the punishment he had taken in the fight, see had figured that Naruto might need to be carried back, and Choji was the only on who was tall enough to do it and not have his feet dragging the ground. Then, with Hinata's help, she got Sasuke in the same position on her back. She was glad that Sasuke hadn't put on the massive growth spurt that Naruto had, or this would have been impossible, or at least very undignified. But he actually wasn't a whole lot taller than she was, so it wasn't too bad. With the two heroes secured, the team made their way back to the Kazekage's tower, Hinata's pearly eyes on the lookout for more trouble.

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When he woke up, Naruto came to the conclusion that all hospital ceilings looked the same. He didn't know how the designers managed it, but somehow they got the same color of eggshell, the same cracks, same "stains that you don't want to think to hard about", no matter which village you seemed to be in. Was there a "Hospital Decor-R-Us" in every hidden village? Weird.

His gaze roamed around the dimly lit room for a moment before a shifting on the bed next to him caught his attention. Someone had shoved two of the narrow beds together, and Sakura was curled up against his side in her usual sleeping position, which seemed to involve making herself as small as possible. He could never figure out how she could sleep like that. It didn't matter how much room she had. They had a pretty big bed back home, but she still slept in this little ball. He smiled and turned over on his side so her head was pillowed on his arm. His ribs protested slightly, but they had been healed to the point of only a dull ache, that he decided he could ignore. His skin was still slightly tender in places, and he could feel bandages in some places, but it was a lot better than it had been. He looked down lovingly at his wife. She had fallen asleep healing him. He could still feel her warm chakra running through him.

Sakura curled up even tighter, if that was possible, and buried her face in his chest. He picked up one of her hands gently and held it. Her hands had always fascinated him. They were a contradiction, both healing tools and deadly weapons. They were delicate and small, but had the scars and calluses that everyone who handled kunai and shuriken on a regular basis acquired. He loved her hands.

He was playing with her fingers when she stirred and a small smile crept across her face. "Good morning. You're awake sooner than I expected." She opened her jade eyes and regarded him sleepily.

"Good morning, back. Wait, is it morning?" He looked around and saw that the window was dark. The soft light had actually been coming from a lamp in the corner. It was night, that's all he could tell. "What day is it? How's Sasuke?"

Sakura laughed. "Don't worry. You've only been asleep about twelve hours. It's actually the same day still. And Sasuke is fine. He's next door, still sleeping last I checked."

"Oh. Good. I need to get up and find out what's happening." He pushed himself up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, ignoring the tug of the bandages that still covering parts of his body and the way his ribs and head were reminding him they were still a bit sore with every movement. He noticed that he was clad only in his boxers. "Where are my clothes?" he asked plaintively.

Sakura sat up and stretched luxuriously. "Just a second, let me help you. I'll get your pack with your spares. The outfit you were wearing was in pretty rough shape."

He looked at her in surprise. "Wait. You're not telling me to rest? You're not chaining me to the bed?" He squinted at her. " Who are you and what have you done with my wife?"

She laughed musically. "I know you have things to do, and I took care of most of your injuries, so there's no point in keeping you in this bed for days. You seem to be healing at the rate of the rest of us mortals, so just take it easy, alright?" She scooted closer and cupped his face in her hands, brushing her thumbs across his whiskered cheeks, laughing again as the sensation made his eyes cross a bit. "And as for your second question." She leaned into him and captured his mouth with hers. His aches and pains were momentarily forgotten as lips and tongues wrestled for supremacy. After a few moments, she disengaged and sat back. "Does that help answer it?"

"Alright. I suppose I'm willing to believe that you're Sakura." He leaned toward her." I might need a little more convincing though."

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It was a very relaxed and very stiff Naruto who walked into Gaara's office a short time later, a smirking Sakura on his heels. Gaara was sitting behind his desk talking to a familiar figure.

"Yamato!"

The ANBU turned and gave him a easy grin. "Hey you two. The Kazekage was just finishing up with telling me what you guys have been up to here. I became really interested after we almost got trampled when we got in between a group of Iwa nin and the Earth Country border. They seemed to think that something really nasty was behind them. I have to send a report back to the Hokage in the morning. I bet she would be pretty interested too." His grin turned evil for a second.

"Heh heh," Naruto chuckled nervously, as his hand went to rub the back of his head. "Yeah, about that." Jeez. Years later, and Yamato still got off on making him squirm. And he didn't even want to know what Tsunade's reaction would be to what he'd been doing. And on that note. "What's happening at home?"

"Nothing, actually. If anyone had any plans to attack our country, we haven't heard about it. The Taki jounin have been indispensable in rounding out our patrols and watching our border, so we're in pretty good shape at the moment. I wasn't even supposed to lead this team, the Hokage was going to send Kakashi. But at the last moment she changed her mind. Told me she had a feeling. Then, this morning when I felt your seal go crazy, I understood. Scared the crap out of me at first. Almost fell off the branch I was on."

Naruto felt guily for a second. He had forgotton that Tenzo would be able to feel him use the Kyuubi's chakra, but then he thought about it. Being able to sense the Kyuubi's chakra through the seal he had helped Naruto make, the one around his neck, Yamato knew damn well what had been going on, or at least had a pretty good idea. He squinted at his one-time captain "You're not nearly stressed enough if you really thought I had lost control, though. You were a wreck the last time I almost went to nine tails. But you didn't rush right here, or wake me up to check the seal. You knew things weren't that serious, so there's no use guilt tripping me."

Yamato nodded his head and grinned, not disagreeing with him in the slightest. "True. This time I could tell something was different. I've worked with Kakashi-sempi enough to know what the Sharingan's chakra feels like, so I had the feeling that you and Sasuke were working together on this. I had to have some faith that between the two of you, it would work out." He stood and clapped the younger man on the back. "From what I'm hearing, you didn't disappoint." He laid off as Naruto winced slightly as his ribs pinched. "Oh, sorry. Let me guess, **He's** pissed at you."

"Just a bit. I think he's pretty weak right now, so the seal is keeping his bitching from getting through. But he's not going to let me have any extra chakra for healing for awhile."

"Well, you should have some time to rest. The army is back across the border, and I don't think we're going to be hearing from them for some time. They seem to think we've been keeping the Kyuubi as a pet all these years and can sic him on them whenever we want, " Shikamaru said as he entered the office, most of the Twelve filing in after him, looking dusty and tired.

"Were any of those priests with them?" Naruto asked.

As usual, Shikamaru knew where he was going with this. "Yup. Six or seven, a couple with a bit fancier robes than the others."

"Damn." Naruto's face too on a pensive look.

"We need to find that statue," Neji commented thoughtfully. "Or we could be facing this same situation sooner than we want to."

Shikamaru huffed in frustration. "Yeah. But first we have to find the damn thing. We still have no idea where it is. "

"I do."

For once Shikamaru looked floored as he gazed, stupefied, at the blond. "Wait, what? When did this happen!?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Don't really know. I grabbed what looked like the head priest, and just sort of took it from his mind. I don't know if this is something the Kyuubi can do to anyone he picks up in his mouth, or something I just came up with."

"Well…that's useful. So, where is it."

Naruto grimaced. "I actually don't know exactly. All I got were pictures, I mean it's not like there were any road signs or labels or anything. I saw mountains that kind of look like some of the ones near the border of Tsuchi and Taki. In a dark valley, there's the entrance to a cave. If I saw it, I'd know it. It's the best I can do."

"It's better than nothing..- wait, how do you know what the mountains in Tsuchi look like?"

Naruto grinned at his friend, though the smile had a touch of melancholy to it. "Two people can cover a lot of ground in two and a half years. I've been all over this continent, but don't know Taki as well as…" Suddenly his eyes widened and his face went a little slack. Sakura knew that look all to well. The proverbial light bulb had just went on in his head.

"Ok! New plan! Time to go!" he said, clapping his hands together as he turned and strode out of the room, leaving everyone to stand blinking at each other.

Sakura was the first to recover, and hurried after her husband. "Wait! What was the old plan?"

"Damn, so much for resting. Troublesome," Shikamaru groaned.

-------------------------------------

In the end, they did manage to convince Naruto to stay put and let everyone recover from their exertions a bit. Not that he had much of a choice after being out voted eleven to one (Sakura voted for the still sleeping Sasuke). And that was only after Shikamaru made a well received ruling that shadow clones couldn't vote.

So Naruto waited. The only reason he hadn't gone on alone was that he took his captaincy very seriously. He knew his team had to rest, but that didn't stop his impatience from keeping him from his own. He paced the cliffs and the walls for hours. He barely ate. Gaara and Sasuke couldn't get him to open up. No one could. Sakura didn't even try. She knew why he was so anxious to find the King of Hell statue. Seeing the death of the young man who had temporarily housed the Yonbi had shaken him to the core. Something like that went against his very being as a jinchuuriki. He never wanted to see that happen to anyone, ever again. And now that the immediate crisis was over, he was obsessing over it. He'd had nightmares the past couple of nights, where he jerked awake, trembling and shaking, and this time they weren't creations of the Kyuubi, but of Naruto's own mind. To say that Sakura was concerned was an understatement. And what was worse, that cheesy fake smile was back, a mask that he hadn't shown her, or the world, in years.

--------------------------------------

**Well, that's all I can concentrate on for now. I was thinking about ending this at this chapter, but I have the feeling it's bad luck to end a story on chapter thirteen. Might make my reviews vanish or something. But I guess I left some loose ends to tie up. Anyway, thanks for the support and I'll see ya next time.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Whoooheee! I'm almost done. One more chapter after this, and I can start the other projects I have in mind. Sorry this chapter took so long, but life's been giving me lemons lately, so instead of making lemonade, I made fluff. You'll see what I mean when you read this.**

**As usual, I don't own anything to do with Naruto. **

* * *

Izumo and Kotetsu watched as the massive gates slowly opened and the weary group trailed in after their captain. By their slow steps and hunched shoulders, you would never know that they were returning victorious. It was late afternoon, and word had already spread that Suna had been saved two days ago, and that the Iwagakuri army had been forced to retreat. The threat from their enemies was still high enough to warrant the closing of Konoha's gates, but much of the tension was out of the air in the village.

But instead of jubilation, the returning team was quiet and withdrawn, often shooting worried glances that went unnoticed by the one who walked ahead of them. Uzumaki walked like one who the lights were on, but no one was really at home. His head was down, deep in thought, and he moved with a wraith-like silence. The two elite chuunin guards shot each other looks. They had never seen the blond like that. His pink haired wife was walking close beside him and slightly behind him, watching his back in his preoccupation. What was more, even though his village had just suffered an attack, the Kazekage walked close on his other side. They weren't surprised to see his siblings traveling with the rest of the mob, for when you saw the one, the other two couldn't be far away. The sandy haired kunoichi traveled close to Shikamaru's side, and the burly puppet master was guarding his brother, as always.

As soon as they were all in, Izumo pulled a leaver, and the gate ground close behind them with a muffled boom. The noise seemed to wake Naruto up, and he stopped and looked around, as if surprised to find himself home already. He also noticed everyone watching him as if he was an exploding tag that no one was sure would go off. He gave them a sheepish smile. "Sorry guys. I guess I've been a little preoccupied, huh? Look, there's no need for all of us to pack into the Hokage's office, okay? Everyone go home and get some rest. I'll make the report."

The chuunin scattered, Konohamaru being the last to leave and walking away with many glances back, like a scolded puppy. There were a few others who looked like they were going to argue, but they were drawn away by the rest. Gaara looked at his brother and sister and nodded his head. Temari took Shikamaru's hand and led him reluctantly away, while Kankuro threw an arm around Kiba's shoulder and started for the compound. Hinata continued to look torn, but soon trailed after her boyfriend and his friend. Naruto and Gaara continued on their way to tower, followed by two less obedient shadows, one ebon, and one cherry blossom hued.

Izumo and Kotesu glanced at each other when they were out of sight.

_What the hell had happened out there?_

* * *

In the way of all mothers (or mother figures), Tsunade knew something was wrong with her kid the moment he stepped through the door. His movements were slow and deliberate, without his usual exuberance, and his head was down, his bangs shadowing his eyes. But really, all she had to do was look at his companions to see that something was seriously wrong.

Sakura was on edge, staying close to her husband's side. She also had a look that Tsunade knew very well, the "anyone make a wrong step around the person I care about and there's going to be a band-aid moment" expression. Sasuke had the look of someone who desperately wanted to be horizontal, but was holding on to his alertness out of sheer stubbornness. Tsunade was getting tired just looking at him. He was also wearing sunglasses, which was so out of character for him it was almost funny. She couldn't wait to hear the story on that. Gaara was inscrutable, even for him, but just the fact that the Kazekage was here, and not in his recently attacked village, spoke volumes.

"Alright. I got a message from Yamato this morning, but since we all know just how much he stinks at giving detailed reports, I'm going to ask you guys. Just what the hell went on?" She looked pointedly at her captain. "Naruto?"

Naruto sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he looked up at her and began to speak in a dull voice. "They had a bijju, Baa-chan. They were going to release the four-tails on Suna. They had some kind of deal with a religious order who worshiped the bijju. These priests found Akatsuki's statue somehow and made a temporary vessel for the Yonbi out of some poor guy, and then sacrificed him outside of Suna and released the Yonbi into a containment field. First they made sure that the village was sealed up, then Iwa gave us an hour to surrender before they dropped the field. But Iwa was double crossed by the priests, they were going to release the Yonbi anyway. I knew there was no way we could fight that thing, so I had the idea to have Sasuke use his Mangekyou to control the Kyuubi enough so that I could use more of it's power to fight, but hopefully not lose myself. I wasn't really sure what was going to happen. I figured it would just give me an edge, but I ended up transforming into the Kyuubi itself. I managed to kill the Yonbi, then Sasuke removed the chakra from me. Sakura repaired the damage to Sasuke's eyes caused by using the Mangekyou, and we waited just long enough for everyone to rest up a bit before heading home."

_Well, that explains the sunglasses_, Tsunade thought to herself while he was talking. Actually, Tenzou wasn't such a bad messenger as she liked to make him out to be. It was a good way to milk extra information out of people who didn't give it up easily. Like Kakashi, for example. She already knew most of what she was hearing, she just wanted to hear Naruto tell it again. It gave her a good idea as to what kind of shape he was in, mentally.

And the answer was, not good. Thanks to the absence of Akatsuki, and the seal that he and Tenzou had created, he had been able to think about other things besides his status as a vessel for the past few years. Not that he could ever completely forget it, but he was able to push it aside slightly so he could look past it for the first time since he was twelve. This whole affair, from the other jinchuuriki's death to his own transformation, had shoved it in his face again to the point that it was all he could see.

Tsunade sat and listened patiently until his voice trailed off, and it was evident that she wasn't going to be getting anymore out of him. She sighed. She really was getting too old for this. "Sakura, Sasuke, my lord Kazekage, could you please step outside for a moment. I would like to speak to Naruto alone."

Two of the three looked slightly rebellious, but Sakura met her eyes and read the unspoken message there, nodded slightly, and drew Sasuke out of the room after the already leaving Gaara.

Naruto looked after them wistfully. He seemed to have been taking a lot of strength from having his three best friends there with him. Especially Gaara. The former jinchuuriki probably knew exactly what was going through his head. He turned to Tsunade, who was sitting behind her desk, her chin resting on steepled fingers as she studied him.

"Baa-chan? I gave you……"

"I know you gave me the report. Now we're going to talk about you and how you are doing."

Naruto shot her an accusing glare." You already knew what happened."

Tsunade snorted. "Please. Tenzou's an ANBU, it's not like he could be that bad at giving reports. But you did give me some details that it seems you didn't tell him."

Naruto lowered his head. Tsunade got up and moved around her desk, and threw her arm around the young man's shoulders and drew him toward the couch in the corner. Tsunade sat and pulled the unresisting blond down next to her. They sat in silence for a quite a while. She was patient. He would start talking when he was ready. After a few moments, Tsunade noticed that Naruto was slowly starting to slide down in his seat, his long legs splaying out in front of him. Soon he no longer towered over her, but was at just the right level to tuck himself under her arm and against her side. He sighed deeply and leaned into her. Tsunade resisted the urge to chuckle. Even depressed, he never passed up the opportunity to soak up some affection. He relished contact, craved it even.

"People are worried about you, you know," Tsunade's voice murmured near his ear.

"I know."

"They saw the old Naruto for a bit. The one who hides behind fake smiles. It's not like you have to keep anything secret from any of them anymore."

"I know that too. I just had a lot to sort out. Stuff I didn't think they'd understand."

"Jinchuuriki stuff?"

She felt a shudder run through his hard frame, and she felt bad for that comment. He really hated that word, as most people who have had an unwanted label thrust upon them do. But, it was who he was, and there was no getting away from it. Unfortunately, he just had to come to terms with that fact every so often. She thought he was going to clam up on her after that, but, to her relief, he started talking.

"I guess I just got used to being the last. I liked the idea that the other bijuu were sealed up and no one else, especially a child, would ever have to go through what I did. But then all this happened. I didn't tell everyone just what I saw when they released the Yonbi. Demons are sealed into infants because their chakra network isn't completely developed, right? The man they used was about my age. The chakra was eating him alive from the inside. It was a good thing he was killed, because he was going to die anyway, one of the most painful deaths I've ever seen. I was so damn pissed off at that point. It was only because I had to figure out how any of us was going to survive the next couple hours that I didn't lose it right there. When I was the Kyuubi, it was all I could do to keep myself from slaughtering every Iwa nin and priest that was trying to run away, but I held that head priest in my jaws and felt his body shut down from the chakra poisoning. You know what? It felt pretty damn good. Like I was getting some payback. The only problem is, I don't know if I was getting payback for that poor bastard that they killed, or me. What kind of person does that make me?"

"It makes you human, little brother."

* * *

Blue eyes met honey brown as Naruto looked up, startled at her last statement. Tsunade sighed.

"Naruto, I don't pretend to understand what you go through day to day. Couldn't even start. But what you are has made you who you are. And that person is Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuuriki, Jounin of Konoha, husband, brother, and friend."

Some of the uncertainty he had been dealing with the past few days came rushing back. "But what if I'm not the person you all think I am? I took to that shape a little too easily for comfort. I was good enough to kill another bijuu with just my fangs. It told me that I haven't buried the Kyuubi as deep as I thought I had. I've been so slack lately, not on my guard. Too comfortable. Relying on this seal too much. I'm even wondering if I should have gotten married at all. Sakura wants children and-"

"**Thwap!"**

Naruto wasn't quiet knocked off the couch by the slap across the back of his head, but only because he had thrown himself instinctually to the side after the first blow. He opened his mouth to protest, but no sound could work its way out after he looked up. Tsunade was leaning forward, staring hard into his eyes, an enraged expression on her face .

"Don't ever let me hear you say that again," she snarled, her voice harsh. "That girl is the best thing that could have happened to you. Did you have any idea what kind of path you were on a couple of years ago? You were going to be the Hokage, or you were going to die protecting this village. There was a time that I was sure it was going to be the latter, that you didn't want to live anymore, after that last time you were passed up for Jounin. Your spark was gone, you were just going through the motions. But after you and Sakura were together, I wasn't worried anymore. You had her, you had everyone around you living in the compound. You had your family, and I knew you weren't going to let anything take you away from that. That you were going to be alright." She shook her head, and Naruto was surprised to see a shininess to her eyes. "I have too much to worry about with this damn job and it's damn paperwork to want to worry about you again. Stop thinking about "what ifs" and just live for yourself for once in your life. Heaven knows you've earned it."

Naruto slowly straightened to resume his original position leaning against the Hokage as she surreptitiously tried to get her emotions back under control. He was a bit shocked. He and Tsunade's relationship was a little confusing at the best of times. Mother, grandmother, big sister, and boss all rolled into one. He had just never realized how much worry he caused her. He was still getting used to having Sakura so concerned for his well being. Their love made him feel warm inside, and also made him feel bad for how self centered he had been the past few days.

The whirling mess that had been his mind for the past few days was slowly starting to come to some kind of order as he sat in one of the places he had always felt safe. Naruto loved this couch. One of his fondest memories from his often painful childhood was waking from a nap here, under the watchful gaze of Sarutobi-jiji. More recently, he would sometimes crash here after giving a report and wake up to find Tsunade watching him, often with a tender look on her face. As far as he was concerned, this battered old couch was the most comfortable in the world. He would trade that huge monstrosity the gang had gotten he and Sakura for this one in an instant. But he wouldn't. This couch belonged in the Hokage's office. He liked to think his parents had sat here at some point, maybe while thinking of him. Hopefully, he would sit here someday when this was his office, and think about a future that he was just now realizing wasn't completely out of his reach. A future that was made possible by two women who loved him so much.

"I'm sorry, Baa-chan. I've been a whiney little bitch lately, haven't I? I didn't mean to make everyone worry."

Tsunade glanced warmly at him, her eyes once again soft. " I know, brat. And you're not whiney. Matter of fact, you're the least whiney person I have ever met. You could stand to whine a little. Just keep in mind that things aren't like they were when you were a kid. There are more people than just one or two that want you to be happy now. Chiefly, the two sitting outside right now. Sakura looked ready to clobber someone, and Uchiha is fighting to keep himself conscious so he can watch your back. Not to mention Gaara. Why is he here, exactly?"

"Because I'm going to find and destroy that statue, and he wanted to be in on it."

Tsunade stared. "How are you proposing to do that? We have no idea where it is, just where it's not."

Naruto grinned slightly. There wasn't as much humor in the expression that he usually put into it, but it was a start. "I know roughly where it is. At least in what part of the world it is. It's in the mountains near the border of Tsuchi and Taki. That's why we came back here instead of going right there. I need Takikage or some of his Jounin to help me pinpoint the location. I can have Ino take the images out of my head and put them in theirs."

Tsunade was thunderstruck. "How did you get that information?"

Naruto wouldn't meet her eyes. "I, or the Kyuubi I'm not sure which, ripped it from the mind of the priest I killed."

A look of dawning comprehension. "So that's what started this whole mess of questioning your identity. Naruto, what you did was a good thing. With that information, you really can make sure that no one suffers the fate of that young man. Or you."

"I know. That's why I want to get started on that right away. Can you give me the mission?"

"Of course. There's just one little problem. The Taki delegation went home."

"What!"

"Yesterday, when it was clear that Iwa wouldn't have any fight left in them for a major offensive against us, Yoritomo took his shinobi and escorted his council home."

Naruto sunk down further in his seat and crossed his arms. "Well, shit."

"Don't worry. This is important enough to warrant sending him a message requesting he come back. This just means you can get some rest." She laughed at the sour look he gave her. "It's not like you have much choice. It's going to take him at least a couple of days to get back here. So I'm ordering you to rest until then. Go home, spend some time with your wife, for kami's sake let Uchiha get some sleep, and I'll summon you when we need you. Deal?"

Naruto pulled on his lower lip, as if deep in thought. He could feel Tsunade's ire growing, but now that his mood was lifting, he couldn't help but mess with her a bit. He furrowed his brows further and frowned.

"Naruto?" She sounded concerned.

He popped up and gave her a peck on the cheek, so fast she didn't have a chance to jump back.

Tsunade snorted and aimed another slap at his head, this time playfully, which he ducked, grinning. "Idiot. Go home."

"Love you too Baa-chan. Thanks."

"Anytime, little brother."

* * *

The door to the office opened, and three heads looked up in unison. When Naruto stepped out, Sakura could tell that he was almost back to normal. His head was up and his eyes shone with their usual mix of determination and enthusiasm. There were still a few shadows in them, but she knew they would be there until the statue was destroyed. Actually, instead of depression, there was a look of supreme annoyance on his face.

"Well, looks like we have a bit of a wait. The Taki group went home yesterday, and it's going to take a couple of days to get someone back here. So, it looks like we get to have the downtime everyone wanted. Gaara, Baa-chan wants to talk to you. Sakura, Sasuke, let's go home." He reached out his arm to her with a heart melting smile.

Sakura took his offered hand and twined her fingers with his as Gaara nodded to them and entered the office. Team seven made its way out of the tower and across the village to their home. Sakura was glad her husband was in better spirits now. He was looking around him and answering the people who called out greetings or waved to them, his blue eyes flashing with pleasure at those who acknowledged him. Sakura smiled as she watched and made note of the individuals. That a growing percentage were civilians just made it better.

Things were quiet at the compound when they arrived, with none of the shouts and ruckus usually caused by twelve young adults living there. Sakura figured they had all found their beds as soon as Naruto had dismissed them. Most of them would be up and scrounging for food later tonight, though.

Sasuke parted company with them as they passed the main house. They probably wouldn't see him again until late tomorrow morning. If they didn't, she or Naruto would go check to see if he was still alive. With only Neji still living in the house, there would be nothing to disturb him until someone actually went to wake him up, or he got hungry.

They entered their house and barely paid attention to where they kicked off their shoes. They reached the bedroom, and Naruto sank onto the bed with a groan. Sakura removed her armor and her vest and stored them neatly away in their rightful place in the cabinet that held all their armaments, then turned and sighed in resignation when she saw Naruto had piled his in a heap in the corner. As usual. He drew off his mesh shirt and sat on the edge of the bed, running his hands through his hair. Sakura paused in her changing to admire his broad, muscular back, and the way his perfect skin rippled when he moved. She soon had changed into the loose pants and tank top she usually slept in, and softly padded across the room on her bare feet. She crawled across the bed and knelt behind him. He sighed with pleasure as she started kneading the firm muscles of his shoulders, her hands glowing slightly when she hit a particularly tight knot. "You, my love, are way too tense."

"Heh. Tell me about it."

"You're alright now, though? Your talk with Shishou helped?"

He leaned back, so that his upper half lay in her lap and he could see her face. "She knocked a few screws loose that needed it, and I have the bump to prove it. Sakura, I am so sorry for the way I've been acting. As Baa-chan so forcefully reminded me, I'm still a little too used to being on my own and not thinking about the people who might worry about me."

She smiled fondly down at him. "You don't have to apologize for being you, you know. I knew who you were when you were my best friend, and I knew who you were when I married you. I would be a fool to think your childhood would have no effect on you, no matter how much you try to hide it. But, I have to think that you would be a very different person without the Kyuubi, and without your struggles. I happen to like this Naruto." She ran her fingernails over his whiskers lightly, causing his eyes to roll back in his head slightly. A contented thrumming came from deep in his chest. She leaned down to capture his mouth with hers, trying to pour all of the love she felt for him into the kiss. He responded slowly at first, then with a fervor that took them both by surprise.

Then talk was over, and it was time for another kind of communication.

* * *

They ended up sleeping the rest of the day and all of the night before groggily joining the rest of their friends for a communal breakfast in the main house. They were greeted with cheers and pleased nods, depending on the individuals exuberance. Naruto's brain didn't start functioning until he had a couple of bowls of cereal and some strong tea in his system, only then did he start to feel human again. He was a little concerned about how the others would react to him after his mood of late, but to his relief, no one mentioned anything. They were all pretty attuned to each other, and it seemed they could tell that he was in a much better frame of mind.

_Hell, anyone would be in a better frame of mind after the evening I had yesterday. _His train of thought must have shown on his face, because Sakura glanced up at him and flushed slightly.

"So what's our next step?" Shikamaru asked.

"We wait," he replied, in between mouthfuls of his third bowl of cereal. "Tsunade sent a message to Taki yesterday. We should be hearing back from them by tonight. How soon they can get someone here who knows the countryside well is another issue."

"Well, whatever you do, don't forget to count us in," Kankuro said, backed up by a firm nod from Temari.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Now that he was fully awake, he was starting to notice certain small details. Like how Temari was wearing a shirt that he could swear he had seen on Shikamaru before. That and the fact that neither of her brothers were trying to kill the lazy genius at the moment. While that would definitely quiet things down a bit, it also took away one of his sources of entertainment. So while he was happy for Shikamaru, he was also strangely disappointed at the same time. Until.

Naruto stood to take his bowl to the sink and looked down in surprise. "Hey, where'd all this sand on the floor come from?"

Shikamaru vaulted onto the table so fast he sent dishes flying and spilled an entire glass of water onto Temari's lap. Naruto was already out the door by this time, followed by the sound of Kankuro on the floor laughing and an enraged Suna kunoichi. Temari chased him around the compound, swearing to kill him even though he was her brothers best friend. He almost made it to his house before he was caught in a shadow bind and was made to apologize profusely to the two lovers and swear off pranks for the rest of the month.

Naruto found he didn't mind at all.

So they all passed the rest of the day in other various ways, light training, playing games, watching movies, and daring each other to go wake up Sasuke before he starved to death in his sleep.

* * *

As it was, they ended up cooling their heels for a full day and a half before Naruto was summoned to the Hokage's office.

"So," she said as he entered. "You want the good news or the bad news first?"

"Oh hell, I'll take the good news. Why not?"

"The good news is that I gave the Takikage the description you gave me and he says it sounds a lot like the far northwestern mountains near the coast, and he says he has a few Jounin who are from that part of the country. The mountains are somewhat hard to get around it, but not impossible."

"That's great Baa-chan! So what's the bad news?"

"A portion of the routed Iwa army decided they didn't want to go home in disgrace and headed into Taki instead. Satsu's got all his manpower involved in rounding them up. He estimates three or four days."

"Three or four…. Baa-chan! Those damn priests could seal another demon in three or four days!"

"I know brat, but what else can we do?"

Naruto was thinking hard. There had to be a way for them to get ahead of the game somehow. He shifted his weight, and absently noticed the feel of the extra pouch on his thigh. It had become necessary to carry a second holster for his Hiraishin kunai, to keep them separate so as not to grab one when he didn't want to.

Wait.

"Baa-chan, I've got an idea."

"Lord, I know that look. What?"

"What if we send the rest of the team, plus Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, ahead. We know the general location, just not the exact one. By the time we get the coordinates, they could be most of the way there, and the rest of us could just catch up. I'll keep Ino here to take the images out of my memory, and Sasuke isn't quite up to full power yet, so he could use the few extra days."

"Catch up? How do you propose to catch up to a team with a four day head start?"

Naruto pulled out one of his seal engraved kunai and twirled it idly on his finger. "How else? Every one of the team now has at least two or three of these. I can send a clone out with them, then dispel him when we have the information we need. That will signal the team and one of them will summon me. Or, if they need me, they can dispel the clone themselves, and I'll know. I see no reason I can't take one or two people along with me, though it'll probably be a bumpy ride. Made me nauseous the first few times I did it. Dad even mentioned in his notes that he carried wounded to medics, and Kakashi confirmed it."

Tsunade sat and mulled this over. She wanted to find some reason this wouldn't work, but she really couldn't. It would give them a head start, and the sooner that statue was put away, the safer they all would be. "Why Ino? You could send her off with the rest and have her father do the imaging. He might even be better at it."

"While I'm sure her father is a brilliant shinobi, Ino is just as good at her family's techniques, and I trust her enough to go rummaging around in my head. Believe me when I say there are some things in there I would rather nobody see."

Tsunade was still trying to find some kind of flaw that might turn the whole thing into an unmitigated disaster, and finally gave up. "Alright, send your team. And I'm sure the Kazekage and his siblings will want to go. I'll let Satsu know that they're heading his way and it would be much appreciated if he could support them in any way."

Naruto left the Hokage's office that afternoon feeling very satisfied. Now he just had to go home and tell everybody to pack up again. He wondered how they were going to take it. It might be good that they wouldn't be seeing him for a few days.

* * *

**This seemed like a really slow chapter, but it was a lot of fun to write for some reason. I promise, action to come And I really was serious that the next chapter is the last one. Here.**

**To be concluded. Mwahaha**


	15. Chapter 15

**Here you go, the next chapter. And, as I will explain , not the last chapter after all. I was wishy washy all week as to whether I wanted to cram the rest of the story into one chapter, but in the end decided not to. I just kept coming up with more good stuff, and it was becoming way too long. Oh well. I'd rather have that problem than writer's block, so I guess it's not too bad. It also tells you a lot about how fried my brain gets over the holidays. Bah, humbug.**

**As usual, I don't own anything except my oc's**

* * *

There was one huge, monumental problem with his grand plan, as Naruto discovered a couple of days later. It was so glaringly obvious, he was chagrined that he hadn't seen it before. When he had discussed it with Tsunade it had sounded great. The majority of the team leave and head for Taki while he waited to get an exact location. It would be faster for the Takikage and his Jounin to come to him rather than them searching all over the countryside for them. Sasuke got to finish resting up and Ino, who had the least amount of stamina for traveling, got a free ride and would be at full strength when they got there. Simple as that. Except for one thing.

He hated waiting.

A lot.

Now, patience had never been one of his strong points. He was the first to admit that. In his defense, he was a lot better than he used to be when he was younger. Maturity (and Sakura) had made sure of that. He just hadn't imagined how hard it would be to stand at that gate and watch everyone leave without him like a dog abandoned by the side of the road. It wasn't just his team leaving him, it was his family. No matter that they were all Jounin, and that together they were damn near unstoppable, he was going to worry. And that was going to make waiting all that much harder.

But he put on a cheerful face that probably didn't fool anyone and saw them off in the morning. Sakura gave him a goodbye kiss, Hinata gave him a hug, and luckily the rest stuck to handshakes and shoulder claps. The one Kage among them was nominally in charge due to rank, but Gaara seemed content to travel next to Sakura and let Shikamaru lead them out of the gates. Naruto stood and watched until they were out of sight, then turned and walked slowly through the village. The next couple of days were really going to suck.

The Uchiha quarter was way too quiet with everyone but three of them gone. True, more than one of them were always on missions of varying lengths of time, but never this many at once. As was his habit lately, he reached out with his sage ability and could tell that Sasuke was in his room, and that Ino was sitting on her porch, probably with a mug of tea. The mind walker felt the feather light brush of his sensing and flared her chakra slightly to tell him she had noticed him. He headed over to the small house that she and Sakura shared when they first moved in here and now had to herself. The platinum blond was relaxing in the morning sun, her hair loose and draped across her shoulders, and was indeed cradling a steaming cup. She smiled when she saw him and pulled another one out from behind her and held it out to him.

"I thought you would be back around now. Pull up a step."

"Thanks." He took the offered mug and sank down next to her. They sat in companionable silence for awhile, listening to the village wake up outside the walls. He looked around at the deserted courtyard and sighed gustily.

"Going to suck?" Ino asked cagily. She knew how much inactivity irked him.

"Gonna suck hard."

* * *

The next morning, like the first, found him sitting with Ino again. He had even less prospects for himself today than he had yesterday, thanks to his actions. He was barred from Tsunade's office for making a nuisance of himself. After an hour of sitting there mopeing (at least that's what she had called it, he begged to differ) she had told him to stop bothering her and get off his ass and go do something constructive. That had resulted in an argument, which in turn had resulted in him being thrown out of the office on his ear.

He had then gone to drown his boredom in ramen. But, though he would have considered this the lowest of blasphemies when he was younger, even that got old. He had actually gotten out of the habit of eating a lot of it, now that he had Sakura watching everything he ate. He had finished his second bowl and had paid up while Ayame's back had been turned, and had just slunk back to his empty house and watched movies until his brain oozed out of his ears and he fell asleep on the couch.

So to say that he was at wits end as he sat with Ino was an understatement. He missed his wife, he missed his friends, he missed the noise they all made around here. He needed noise. Drastic times called for drastic measures. He had way too much pent up energy, and was finally going to do something about it. He drained his cup, handed it to Ino and stood up.

Ino squinted at him suspiciously as he got up to leave. Naruto tended to revert to old habits a bit when Sakura wasn't around to keep an eye on him. "What are you up to? I know that look."

Naruto turned to her solemnly. "Sometimes a man's got to do what a man's got to do."

All Ino could do was watch him walk away toward the main house. "This should be entertaining."

* * *

It was later that morning in the neighborhood that bordered the Uchiha district when a loud bang was heard within. That was followed by an ominous silence that lasted for about thirty seconds before some very localized chaos started. A loud voice shouting, a deeper voice growling what sounded like curses, and hysterical feminine laughter was coming over the wall as shopkeepers and pedestrians paused, wondering what was happening. The neighbors were fairly used to some strange goings on in the compound. Odd noises and the occasional explosions were expected from somewhere twelve powerful and individually eccentric young Jounin lived and trained together.

Soon the people nearest the north wall were treated to the sight of the resident jinchuuriki launching himself over it, whooping excitedly, and streaking down the road. Following close behind him was a grim faced Uchiha who, strangely enough, had a liberal coating of what appeared to be flour dusted on his hair, face, and shoulders. He vaulted to the ground and ran after the blond with a deadly silence that had people scrambling to get out of his way. As soon as they were out of sight the gathered crowd looked at one another, shrugged, and went about their business. When distant booms emanated from the nearest training ground several minutes later, they went completely unnoticed. Such was the life of a resident of a hidden village. You learned to deal with some pretty odd stuff.

* * *

Dust and leaves were still settling to the ground as two men lay a few feet from each other on the grass, panting. A tree branch lost it's fight with gravity and crashed to the ground nearby, it's base severed almost completely through. Smoke emanated from a few craters. Every bird and small animal in the vicinity had fled the area at the onset of the "spar".

"You were holding back," Sasuke commented.

Naruto craned his neck and gave his brother an upside down look. "How so?"

"This field isn't nearly destroyed enough."

"Heh, about that. Tsunade-baa-chan threatened to start taking ground maintenance out of my paychecks if I kept tearing up the training areas so bad. She said the same thing to Sakura. So what? I tired you out, didn't I?"

"Hn. So, you feel better now?"

Naruto watched a cloud roll by. "Why yes. Yes I do. You?"

Sasuke sighed. "I was feeling better until you came barging into my room and threw an exploding tag at my head. A tag filled with flour? Really? That's all you could come up with? Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

"Hey, it was a spur of the moment kind of thing." Naruto curled his legs off the ground and snap jumped to his feet. " Well, now that's out of my system, want to get some breakfast?"

Sasuke rose to his feet in a more sedate manner. " What I'm going to do is go get a shower and get the rest of this flour out of my hair."

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, we wouldn't want you looking more like a cockatoo than you already do, now would we."

"Better than looking like an idiot all the time." He was brushing the dirt and grass off of his black pants with a still slightly disgruntled air.

"Oh, good comeback teme. You-"

"Would you two grow up already."

Sasuke and Naruto looked up to see Ino standing on the branch of a tree above them shaking her head. "Jeez. Sakura's gone for a day and a half and this is what you guys do? This explains a lot. You know, when people ask her if she's planning on having any kids, she just laughs and says she already has two." She continued on, ignoring the twin glares below her. " And I was having a nice cup of tea too, which was disturbed by the way when an ANBU started asking me questions about what the hell was going on." She continued haranguing them about their maturity, as if she hadn't been sitting there laughing her ass off when they had both come boiling out of the main house trailing flour after them.

" Wait, " Naruto interrupted. " we weren't making that much noise, why was an ANBU there?"

Ino looked heavenward and tapped an elegant finger against her chin. "Well, I guess it was just Sai, and he really did want to know what was going on, and I guess the Hokage sent him to tell us that the Takikage had arrived."

"What! Why didn't you…? Ino, damn it. I swear, one of these days…" Naruto started for the tower. "Come on you two, get the lead out!"

As she and Sasuke followed behind the boisterous blond, Ino saw the look on the face of her former crush and decided it would be a good idea if she didn't say anything about the flour still in his hair.

* * *

Yoritomo Satsu really didn't think he would be seeing Konoha again quite so soon, but he found that Tsunade could be very persuasive when she wanted to be. Basically she had just called in for future favors, which given Konoha's connections, wasn't a bad thing.

That, and the mission itself had piqued his curiosity. There was a lot of myth and rumor surrounding the bijuu and the jinchuuriki, and very little fact. While devastatingly powerful individuals, Uzumaki seemed to have been the only relatively stable one out of the bunch. He had heard too many stories about the ones that had been true whack jobs. All in all, disposal of that statue seemed like one of those good ideas. Enough of a good idea that he had dropped what he had been doing to return to Konoha.

Someone knocked at the door and Tsunade yelled for them to enter. He and his men watched as the three young Jounin entered the office and stood before the desk. Uzumaki was fingering a scorch mark on the sleeve of his black and orange haori, the Uchiha was batting a fine white powder out of his hair, while the blond kunoichi seemed to be barely holding her mirth. Tsunade looked at each of them in turn, opened her mouth, but then seemed to think better of it. Satsu could easily read the expression on her face. _I don't want to know._

Satsu actually kind of did want to know. After the week he'd had, he needed a funny story.

* * *

Tsunade cleared her throat, loudly, and everyone's attention jumped to her." Naruto, I've already briefed the Takikage on the plan so, if you're ready, let's get you three to your team, shall we? I'll hear the story behind this later."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly for a second, then was all business. "Okay Ino, let's do this."

The kunoichi followed him over to the couch and sat on it while the taller blond knelt on the floor in front of her. "Okay, now just do what I told you and relax and focus on the scene you want me to see," she said as she held out her hands and started through a series of unfamiliar hand signs.

Naruto gave her one of his foxy smiles, but his eyes were serious. "No problem. Oh, and Ino, " Ino paused. "Don't talk to any strangers in there."

Ino grinned back, though she just barely hid a shudder. She hadn't really needed that little reminder. She had absolutely no desire to hold any kind of conversation with the Kyuubi. She completed the mind sharing and found herself somewhere drastically different from the Hokage's office as her body slumped over on the couch.

She was standing on a wide gravelly flood plain next to a fast moving, cold looking river. Mountains towered all around her. She was amazed at the clarity of this memory. Sakura had told her a couple of years ago that, contrary to popular belief, Naruto's mind was like a steel trap. He was very observant and once something was in his head, it never left. She had been a little skeptical at first, too easily reminded of their academy days, but now she was seeing the proof. For all that this memory was several days old and ripped second hand from the mind of another, she could practically smell the high altitude air and feel the gravel crunch under her sandals.

She turned slowly, trying to get as many details fixed into her own mind as she could. She looked behind her and almost squeaked. She was standing in front of a huge natural cave, carved out over the centuries by a tributary of the river behind her. At least, it looked completely natural. When she looked harder, she could see seals and figures carved into the rock around its mouth. She recognized very few of the seals, fuuinjutsu not being one of her interests, but the ones she did recognized belonged to the concealment family. Someone hadn't wanted this cave found.

Satisfied, she took in another sweep of the area until she was sure she could reproduce it from her own memory, then made a sigh with her hands, with a motion of breaking, dispelling the jutsu. She opened her eyes and found herself laying on the couch looking up into Naruto's handsome face. "How'd it go?"

"Naruto, that was the clearest thing I have ever gotten from someone. You have a good memory." To her amusement, he flushed slightly from the praise. She looked at the Taki delegation. "Alright, who's first."

One by one the Takikage and his Jounin found themselves on that rocky riverbed, but they didn't have any hits until the third one, a tall, middle aged man with a tough, weather beaten exterior. As he surveyed the area, he suddenly grinned in pleasure." Hey, I know that mountain."

Ino looked at a distinctive dome shape with a large rock outcropping on the north face in the near distance. "You're sure?"

The man snorted. "Of course I'm sure. My home village is at the base of it. From this angle, I'd say on the other side from where we are. Then this is the Shirotora River. I can pick it out on a map for you easily."

"Outstanding!" And Ino brought them out of her jutsu. She was slightly winded from doing this four times in a row, but she tended to recover fast from her clan's techniques. Soon they were all clustered around a map of Taki laid out on Tsunade's desk and had the point picked out on it. The Jounin was telling them about the country.

"It's hard going, especially for you tree-huggers." Her grinned while the Konoha nin glared at him. A similar glare from his Kage made him cough and get serious again. "What I mean is, it's going to be a lot of vertical climbing, with thinner air than you all are used to. At that spot on the river it's at least 13,000 feet above sea level."

Naruto studied the map. "There might be an easier way to get there through these valleys here.' He ran his finger across the map. "We'd have to skirt the border with Iwa a bit, but I don't think they're going to have much to say about it right now. I have a pretty good idea where the team is right now." He pointed to a spot near the juncture of the Grass, Waterfall, and Earth countries." That's about how far away my clone is," he said, answering the questioning looks around him.

One of the younger Taki Jounin whistled. "You can keep a shadow clone going that far away? Why do you want to destroy that statue when we could have more shinobi like you?" His innocent question was met by four cold stares as the temperature in the room seemed to drop. The man shifted uncomfortably at being the recipient of so much hostility.

Naruto couldn't really be mad at the man. The question had been an honest one. "Because," he replied in a soft voice. " while yes, I am strong, I never want anyone else to go through what I have to get this far. I've had a hard life."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence before Naruto smiled suddenly. "Ino, Sasuke, I'm going to see to our supplies. We'll be leaving as soon as we can." He turned and strode out the door, haori flaring out dramatically behind him.

Satsu looked at Tsunade. "He's going to make one damn fine Hokage."

* * *

Thirty minutes later Naruto, Ino and Sasuke had reconvened on the roof of the tower, checking their supplies. They had full packs of food and equipment to re-supply the rest of the team as they traveled to the cave. Tsunade came up the stairs and handed Naruto the rolled up map. "I suppose I don't have to tell you to be careful, right?"

"Not really, but it's nice to hear it anyway, " he chuckled at her.

"Fine, be careful."

"Aren't I always?"

Tsunade snorted. She gave him a brief but warm hug as Ino and Sasuke looked on in amusement. "Be safe and come home soon."

"You betcha, Baa-chan." He mad his signature sign and a clone came into existence, only to be dispelled again. He waited. A long minute later he got a huge rush of information from his long distance clone. He had expected to see the team traveling or resting, but instead got a jumble of images, Sakura punching something, Shikamaru yelling, and lots of rocks. He looked at his two companions.

"I think we picked a good time, something's up. Come here guys." Naruto hooked an arm around Ino's waist as Sasuke griped the shoulder of his flak jacket tightly. Naruto began to feel the building pressure that signaled that one of his marked kunai had been thrown. It was like something was tugging him as the seal drew him to it. Then, with a shout, he flashed through the long string of hand signs, and Tsunade was suddenly alone on the roof.

* * *

Naruto's sandals griped the earth as he quickly overcame the disorientation that the Hiraishin caused. For a moment he felt very odd and paused, confused. He had heard a strange sound, and he was having a hard time figuring out whether the sound was real or inside his head. Unfortunately, with him, it could be either.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to pursue the issue further due to the giant rock that was bouncing down directly at them.

He shoved a still dizzy Sasuke to one side and threw himself and Ino to the other. They landed on the ground hard, knocking the wind out of them as the boulder rolled over the spot where they had been standing and kept going to clatter down the slope they had popped in on. They were on the side of a fairly good sized mountain, Naruto noticed in a rush. There was little to no vegetation he could see, just an endless march of giant rocks. More rocks were raining down from a series of cliffs far above. They seemed to be aimed, so he had to assume that the rest of the team were holed up in various places on the slope. No wonder the images he had gotten from his clone had been chaotic.

He glanced over at Sasuke. He seemed alright, a little green around the gills, but recovering fast. Ino was still clutched in his arms and was in much worse shape. He had warned them that if you got at all motion sick, the Hiraishin was going to be a miserable experience. You didn't actually teleport from one spot to the other, you sped there, shifting around obstacles in the way. He had actually thrown up the first time he managed to make himself go more than twenty feet. Ino just looked like she had the mother of all hangovers." Ino? Just hang in there. You'll feel better in a sec-."

"Naruto!" That came from Sasuke as another huge boulder came hurtling down the slope at them. Naruto hauled Ino to her feet and into his arms. Shit, it was coming fast! Suddenly the boulder seemed to pause its decent, then it exploded into a million pieces that came raining down on them to bounce harmlessly off of their armor. A pink and red blur dove through the sudden dust cloud to land in a crouch in front of them.

"Hi guys. Did you miss me?" said Sakura. She was dusty and a little travel weary, but as she stood up and brushed the grit from her arm bracers, Naruto thought she had never been so beautiful.

Naruto laughed at the impish look on her face. "Of course I did. Now, what the hell is going on here?"

Sakura shook her head ruefully. "We think they're some of the Iwa nin that Taki was hunting down. We were traveling across this slope when they got the drop on us, literally. We've only been trying to get past them for a few minutes, but they've got a good position up there. And plenty of amo," she waved her arms at the rock strewn hillside. " We were just about to regroup and figure out our best course of action when your clone said to summon you, so I did. I just didn't know they would roll a rock down where you were going to pop out. Sorry."

"That's alright. I never said the Hiraishin was an exact science. Wait here and look after Ino, I don't think she's feeling too good." Ino hadn't said a word since they had arrived and her eyes were still a little glazed. Sakura gathered her shaken friend in her arms as Naruto raced up the slope, Sasuke close behind him, ditching their heavy packs as they went. He hopped up on a large rock and, putting his fingers in his mouth, let out a shrill whistle.

* * *

Shikamaru had been passing over a rock ledge when the first boulder had come pounding down on them from above. When he had dove over the lip he had found the eroded out hollow beneath it. Everything had happened so fast that he hadn't seen everyone else scatter for cover. And frankly, that annoyed him. This situation was getting on his nerves quickly. The Iwa nin were obviously saving their chakra, since all they had to do was pelt them with rocks and not bother with any jutsus of any kind. But given the steep, open nature of the slope they were on, the rocks were enough, and they had been caught completely flatfooted, and were too busy dodging to come up with any kind of solid plan. He had lost track of most of the rest of the team and figured they were probably pined down on other parts of the hillside.

He edged around to peek out of his shelter, and was almost blinded by shards of rock as one crashed into another near his head. This was intolerable! A scrabbling nearby had him pulling out a kunai, but it was only Neji diving for cover into Shikamaru's haphazard shelter.

"When we get back, remind me to file a complaint with the Takikage about traveling through his country," he panted. "Any ideas?"

"Yeah, go down and go around them. But wait, there's nowhere to go. What's really starting to piss me off is these are probably the same idiots we were fighting last week. Troublesome. As long as you're here, can you tell me where everyone else is?"

Neji activated his Byakugan and scanned the mountainside. "I see most of them. Choji, Lee and Kankuro are behind an outcrop about thirty feet to our left. Gaara and Temari are in the open, but Gaara has a sand dome up, so they seem to be safe for awhile. Kiba and Shino are on the other side of the slope and seem to be trying to make their way up to our opponents, but are having little luck. Hinata and Tenten are about fifty feet up slope and to our right. I don't see Sakura anywhere nearby." Neji shut down his enhanced eyesight to conserve his chakra.

Shikamaru grimaced. "That's not good." It concerned him for three reasons. She was his friend, she was the team's only medic, and, like her husband, was dangerous enough to want to really know where she was. "We need to-," he started before Neji gripped his arm to silence him.

A loud, piercing whistle was sounding from down slope. A very familiar whistle.

Neji and Shikamaru looked at each other, eyes wide. "The cavalry just arrived," Shikamaru said.

Unmindful of any more falling rocks, they both looked around the edge of the outcrop. Naruto was standing on a large boulder near the bottom of the hill, with Sasuke behind him like a black clad shadow. He was making no effort to hide, standing in the open as if daring anyone to lob a rock at him. And, as if by a miracle, no more rocks rolled down. The Iwa renegades seemed to be just as startled by the sudden appearance as they were. Shikamaru didn't blame them. Naruto had his arms crossed sternly, and with his haori blowing in the wind behind him, he looked rather imposing. Sasuke always looked imposing. And if these really were the same idiots who they had been fighting last week, the appearance of the blond jinchuuriki probably had them quaking in their sandals.

Naruto seemed to catch Shikamaru's gaze, even over the distance, and he saw the distinctive yellow eyes. No wonder he could see them. Or, rather, he was sensing them. Movement erupted from all over as the team used the momentary reprieve to scramble down and regroup at Naruto's location. Shikamaru and Neji followed suit quickly before the Iwa nin remembered they had the advantage. As they moved out, a grinding sound nearby made them look up. What Shikamaru had taken for another rock dissolved into sand to reveal Gaara and Temari. Temari gave him a small grin as they joined them.

Naruto was still standing there when they reached him. The rest of the team was converging on them as fast as they could. "Hey guys. Having some fun without me?"

"This _is_ what you would call fun, so yes," Shikamaru answered with a grin as Naruto hopped down to clasp arms with him and Gaara. "Where's Ino?"

"She's down below the tree line with Sakura. Remember how sick I was the first time I went a long ways with the Hiraishin? Well, she's feeling it."

Shikamaru winced. The first time Naruto had gone over half a mile, he had appeared in front of them and had promptly thrown up. Anything that messed with Mr. Ten -Bowls-Of-Ramen's iron constitution had to be bad. He looked at Sasuke. He was paler than usual and was sweating slightly, but seemed to be holding up better.

"I have the map with the coordinates of the cave. Let's get under some cover and see if we have to get past these guys or if we can go around," Naruto was saying. There was a general assent, and they moved down into the trees where Sakura was still tending a queasy Ino. Naruto strode over to them."Feeling any better?"

Ino groaned. "Naruto, I am NEVER doing that again. Why would I want a hangover without the fun of the night before? That sucked." She crossed her arms and pouted.

"Yeah, she's feeling better," Shikamaru said.

Ino made a face at him. " Nice to see you too, Shika."

* * *

Naruto scanned the faces around him. "Is everybody here? Is everyone alright?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives.

"Good. Now, let's take a look at this map and see where we are." He spread the map on the ground where everyone could see it. Gaara put up a thick curving wall upslope from them, just in case their neighbors decided to get over their surprise.

They quickly found their position, and Naruto could see how they had become trapped here. Long ago, a river had skirted around this mountain, cutting a series of steep cliffs at the base. This stand of trees was literally between a rock and a hard place and had grown with abandon in the space they had left, becoming thick and tangled. Shikamaru had led the team across what had appeared to be the path of least resistance, the open slope.

Naruto pointed at the map. " I think we should cut back to the mouth of this valley and go up the cliffs on the other side. We really don't have time to mess with these guys right now. Any objections."

There were none. It seemed that everybody had had enough of rock dodge ball for awhile.

"But we do owe the Takikage a favor. So let's let him know where they are and throw the fear of kami into them before we go." He quickly wrote down the coordinates and summoned a toad to take them to Tsunade. The toad, one of Gamakichi's little cousins, held out its hand and cleared its throat. Naruto rolled his eyes and pulled a bag of candied ginger out of his rations and handed it over. Why couldn't he have nice compliant summons, like Sakura and her slugs. They were always so polite.

"Ok," he said, brushing his hands together in satisfaction. "Now for the fun part. Sasuke?"

Sasuke smirked, obviously knowing what he had in mind. Naruto nodded at Gaara, who dropped his protective wall and recalled his sand. Naruto and Sasuke headed up to the large rock they had been origionaly standing on. The rest hung back, having a good idea what was coming.

The two brothers nodded to each other, than began their jutsu. Naruto slipped into sage mode and began the formation of a large rasenshuriken. Sasuke stood slightly ahead of him, waiting. At some prearranged signal Sasuke's hands blurred together in signs.

"Katon- Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

"Rasenshuriken!"

Naruto whipped his arm back, then let fly. As the glowing projectile left his hand, it passed through the massive fireball in its way. It picked up the flame and carried it, feeding it at the same time. Now there was an enormous wheel of fire flying toward the renegade's entrenchment. It looked impressive from down below, from up there watching as it came at them, it must have looked like hell on earth. Figures began to scramble out of the way, going over the cliffs or climbing higher, but to no avail. The flame shuriken smacked into the rock face above the camp and brought the unstable surface down around the nuke-nin, showering them with near molten debris. Not many made it out of the way. Soon there was silence as smoke rose from the top of the mountain like a mini volcano.

"And that's that. They won't be going very far now. Let's go." He went and took Sakura's hand in his own, for no other reason that he had missed the contact over the past few days.

The team followed, making their way out of the valley. No one said anything about Naruto's seeming harsh methods. Nuke-nin in enemy territory, or even neutral territory, were a danger to the civilians of the area. A group that large could overrun a village of any size, and their stay would not be pleasant for the inhabitants.

The team traveled hard for a while, not stopping until they were clear of the trap valley and up on the cliffs overlooking it. From this vantage, they could see a plume of smoke still rising from the mountain. They worked their way along the cliffs until they were well out of the rocky countryside and were in some cool wooded hills. Naruto brought them to a halt in a sheltered clearing.

"Let's stop here for the night. I think we all need a recharge. Neji, Hinata, is the area clear?"

The Hyuuga cousins activated their bloodline and began to scan the hills around them. Hinata was the first to answer." Nothing bigger than a deer for a mile, Naruto-kun."

But Naruto wasn't paying attention to her. What he was paying attention to was Neji, who was doing something very odd. He had finished his sweep, passing over the group, and his gaze had come to rest on Naruto. Now he was studying him extremely intently.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Is there something I can help you with, Neji?"

"Naruto, are you feeling any different?" The question was so off the wall that everyone stopped what they were doing to listen.

"Different? In what way?" His mind went to the odd feeling he had experienced coming out of the Hiraishin.

"I'm not sure, but your chakra system looks different. And there is some kind of ball of energy in the place I usually associate as being where the Kyuubi is."

This actually made some sense to Naruto, as Neji had long ago described to him just what he looked like to the Byakugan.

Neji went on. "As a matter of fact, I don't see many signs of the Kyuubi itself anywhere."

There was a general outcry at that as the babblers among the team began to babble, while the quiet ones just furrowed their brows and looked concerned. Naruto held up his hands. "Alright, alright. There's an easy way to figure this out, you know." He sat cross legged on the soft, loamy ground and closed his eyes."I'll be right back."

* * *

Naruto almost didn't recognize his mindscape at first. He just wasn't used to it being so, so, clean. It was brighter in here and there wasn't any water on the floor. Actually, now that he thought about it, he remembered that little detail from the last time he had been here before the battle with the Yonbi. Had things been changing in here since then? But there was one even more startling difference.

The Kyuubi was gone.

Where the massive cage had been was a deep recess in the wall. In it rested an enormous glowing ball of energy. It was red, like the fox's chakra, but was different in all other respects. The light from it was brighter, purer. Naruto stepped closer, heartily confused and not a little alarmed.

"Hello again, son."

The quiet voice behind him startled him so badly that he almost fell as he whirled around with an undignified yelp. What he saw stopped his heart. Standing there, looking the same as when Naruto had last seen him nearly five years before, was his father.

"Dad?"

"Yup, it's me." Minato held his hands up in mock surrender. "Why? You're not going to hit me again, are you? Because you hit like your mother, and believe me, that's a compliment."

"You keep scaring me like that, I might think about it. Why are you here? What's going on? What the hell is that thing?" He jestured wildly to the glowing sphere.

Minato laughed, a clear, joyful laugh that sounded a lot like his own. " It's nice to see you too. I'll explain everything, so give me a minute. Nice jacket by the way. The black definently suits you better. Your mother preferred the white, so…"

"Dad. Kyuubi. Gone. Focus."

The Fourth Hokage scratched the back of his head in an extremely familiar gesture. "Heh, sorry. I don't get to talk to anyone much. Ok, remember the safeguard I worked into your seal that summoned me when the seal was destroyed?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I put kind of a second one in. That's the beauty doing your own work. This one would activate when the Kyuubi was gone, or rather, when it was fully merged with you. I guess it was mostly just out of curiosity. I wanted to see the kind of man you would become, and it's not like I had anything else to do with my time." Minato looked around him, then stared hard at Naruto. "Although, I wasn't expecting it to happen for awhile yet. You're what? Twenty?Twenty one? This wasn't supposed to happen until you were thirty, give or take. What have you been doing?"

The parental acusation in the tone put Naruto instinctively on the defensive. "What? I haven't been doing anything. Or, nothing different than I usualy do."

Minato narrowed his blue eyes suspiciously. His gaze wandered over the lanky form of his son, marveling at how similar they were, then focused on the second kunai pouch on his leg. A look of dawning comprehension appeared. "You've figured out the Hiraishin, haven't you?"

Naruto cocked his head, puzzled. "Yeah, just in the last month. No thanks to you, I might add. Your handwritting is worse than mine, and that's saying a lot according to my wife. So my version is a little different than yours. What has that got to do with anything?"

"I'm proud of you. You figured it out way sooner than I expected you to. I had this theory that the merging prosses would speed up slightly after you learned the Hiraishin. It does take a great deal of chakra, after all. Looks like I was right. Your shadow clone usage has done the same thing over time. But still, something else happened recently to drain the Kyuubi this much, didn't it?"

Grimacing, Naruto then had to tell his father a somewhat abriged version of his transformation and the fight with the Yonbi. Minato whisled when he was done. " I thought I felt an Uchiha in here. That would explain why the fox was so pissed toward the end. Yeah, that would do it. Congratulations. You finished off the old fox in one week, when it should have taken you another ten years." His mouth twisted wryly. "The father in me just hasn't decided whether that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Ok, " Naruto said. " Next question. What's that." He pointed at the ball of red light.

Minato grinned. "That's the Kyuubi. Well, what's left of him."

"What?! " Naruto was more confused than ever. "I thought he would be gone."

Minato sighed patiently. "He is gone. His conciousness is gone. Bijuu are essentially great masses of chakra. When their conciousness is gone, the chakra remains."

"So, I still have the Kyuubi's chakra, but now he isn't here to control how much I get?"

"Basically. The chakra will still augment your own levels like it always has."

"I won't have to listen to him bitch anymore?"

"Nope."

"I won't loose control anymore? Won't transform?"

"You might still get some of the fox's physical characteristics, I'm not really sure. It's still the Kyuubi's chakra, after all. You are still a jinchuuriki, son. You still contain a bijuu, just in a more purified form. Actually, I had no idea what the side effects would be when we reached this point. I was kind of playing this whole thing by ear, if you know what I mean. As for losing control, that was usually the Kyuubi trying to take over when you were at a heightened emotional state. Now that he isn't here, I see no reason for that to happen. Oof!"

Naruto had sprang forward to embrace his father in wild joy. He was free! It didn't matter what Minato had said about still being a jinchuuriki. There would be no more fear, the fear he got every time he saw the scars on Sakura's arm, the dread that he would hurt anyone else he loved. A great weight that he had born since he was twelve suddenly dropped from him. He grabed Minato in a rib-crushing hug, actually picking him up and spining him around once. Suddenly, he sobered. He steped back from his father and looked into the eyes he saw everyday in the mirror.

"This will really be the last time I see you, isn't it?"

"Yep, really the last time this time."

"What will happen to you?"

"You're free, so now I'm free. I no longer have to guard the world from the Kyuubi. I can finally go be with your mother. She's been waiting for me for a long time."

"Have you been watching things that happen out there?"

Minato smiled. "I get bits and pieces. Yes, I did know you got married. I was very happy for you. You made a great catch with that one. A kunoichi who can beat the snot out of you. Sounds familiar." He laughed ruefully.

Naruto was finding this hard. His throat was closing up. "Say hello to mom for me. Tell her I love her and I wish I had been able to know her. And if you see Ero-, if you see Jiraiya, tell him I miss him. Same with Sarutobi-jiji."

Minato stared at his son through shiny eyes. " You've lost so many people important to you. Had such a hard life. I can never make up for what I've done to you, can I?"

Naruto grinned. " I can't say it's been the easiest life, but it's made me who I am, so I can't complain too much. I still have Sakura, Sasuke, Tsunade and Iruka, not to mention Kakashi and all my friends. So I'm hardly alone. I don't blame you for anything, Dad, so stop blaming yourself. I'm just glad I got another chance to tell you that."

Minato grabbed Naruto by the vest, pulling him towards him, and the two tall blond men embraced one last time, tears streaming down their faces.

"Take care of yourself son. I won't say to make me proud, because you've aready done that a million times over. "

Naruto buried his face in his father's shoulder, trying to memorize his scent. "You were always my hero, even before I knew who you were, so it means a lot to me to hear you say that. " He let go of Minato and stepped back. "Go. Go rest. You've earned it."

Minato started to fade out. "If all the people I'm looking for are together, at least they'll be easy to find. Kushina and Jiraiya could argue about anything, so all I have to do is listen for shouting." Minato's booming laugh was the last thing to go, and, for the first time in twenty years, Naruto was comepleatly alone in his mind.

He fell down on his knees and cried.

* * *

Sakura started to get concerned when "I'll be right back" turned into nearly an hour and Naruto was still in his meditation pose. Camp had been set up around him, and everyone was just kind of sitting around, waiting and resting. She was just getting ready to run a diagnostic on him when his eyes popped open and his body tensed. He just sat there for a moment as tears started rolling down his whiskered cheeks. Sakura leaned down to look in to his eyes. They were so deep blue they were nearly black, and she couldn't begin to read the emotion storming behind them. Excitement and hope mixed with a deep, crushing loss. "Naruto?" she asked, worry heavy in her tone.

He seemed to come to himself at that, and when he finally focused on her, his eyes were once again the clear blue of a cloudless day. The next moment she found a pair of strong arms around her and she was being spun around and around while her husband's booming laugh filled the clearing. "Naruto, what's wrong with you?! Put me down!" He did, but only to kiss her until she was breathless, no matter that they had an audience who were looking at them like they were crazy.

He finally relented and returned her feet to the ground. He was radiating so much happiness that he was practacaly glowing. "Naruto?" she said again.

What he did next shocked everyone. He reached into his vest and pulled out the little disc of wood with the seal he and Tenzou had come up with. For the past three years it had kept the Kyuubi at bay, keeping his connection with his host to a minimum. Now, with a yank, Naruto tore it from his neck and hurled it away from him. Sakura felt tears start to well up in her eyes at the power of the moment, though she still didn't know what was going on. He looked at her triumphantly. " It's alright, Sakura, I'm free. The Kyuubi is gone. He will never try to control me, he will never send me bad dreams, he will never make me hurt you, or anyone else I love. He's gone and I'm FREE!" That last was a bellow that echoed through the trees and sent birds into the air.

By now, Sakura had tears flowing down her face as well, and all she could do was wrap her arms around his neck and cry while the rest of the team stood, stunned.

Finally, it was Shikamaru who broke the spell, his logic and curiosity winning. "What do you mean the Kyuubi's gone. How can something like that just go away." He winced suddenly and glanced at Gaara. "Besides the obvious way, I mean."

Naruto's face was still full of emotion, but his voice was steady. "My seal was designed to slowly turn the Kyuubi's chakra into my own. This has been happening since I was born, but the process sped up when I became a shinobi. It sped up even more when I learned about shadow clones." He grinned." But since learning the Hiraishin, and after that mess last week, I guess that was the final straw. The Kyuubi isn't gone, but his personality is, you see? Now he's nothing but a massive ball of chakra instead of the furry pain in my ass."

There was silence for another minute, as everyone absorbed this information. Sakura wiped her eyes and stared up into her favorite face, reveling in his joy. Then, with a loud whoop, Naruto was tackled from behind by a deliriously happy Kiba who just couldn't contain himself at the news. Naruto laughed uproariously and the two young men wrestled playfully like children while Akamaru danced around them, barking excitedly. This instigated something of a pig pile as Lee, also yelling excitedly at the top of his lungs, Choji, who didn't get out of the way fast enough, and Kankuro, who was trying to pretend he was too dignified for this until he got a pinecone chucked at his head, joined in. The shifting, whirling mass of five men and a dog rolled all over the camp, causing the less exuberant members of the team to get the heck out of the way or get sucked in against their will.

Sakura just laughed at their antics, not even trying to get involved. To her, nothing had changed. No matter what, with the Kyuubi or without, there would be the man who was her partner, her best friend, her love, her soul mate. He would always be Naruto.

* * *

**So, I learned a little lesson. Never declare the end to a story that you haven't planned out all the way. Maybe I just don't want it to end. This story has been too much fun to write. So Merry Late Christmas, you get another chapter after this.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry this is late_._ Blame the website that lets me watch every episode of** **Stargate SG-1. All ten seasons worth. It is evil. Pure evil.**

**Still don't own.**

* * *

Night fell and the team finally settled down to rest after the evening's shenanigans. While they were still on a bit of a deadline, there was something comforting in actually having a destination, so some of the tension was gone. Instead of setting up tents or unrolling bedrolls, they had opted for just making themselves as comfortable as possible using the terrain. The ground was soft in the grove of trees, and their low hanging branches gave an element of security. Most of the team were fast asleep propped up against the trees themselves. There could still be enemies around so they didn't have a fire, but as it was summer, even at this altitude, they really hadn't needed one. It was a full moon and a crystal clear night. To sharp eyed ninja, the sun may as well have been up.

Gaara was perched on a low hanging branch in a spot where he could see everyone scattered around the grove. As usual for the middle of the night, he seemed to be the only one alert. It was normal for him to take most of the night watch. Sleep had not come easy for him after sixteen years of insomnia. It taken nearly a week after the extraction to convince himself that it was even possible.

Even now, several years later, he would sleep for only a few hours, then jerk awake, as if his mind had been caught doing something it shouldn't. So, when traveling, and even though his older Jounin would complain and say it was demeaning for the Kazekage to take a shift on watch, he always took the longest one. He usually pointed out the fact that he had never been a very conventional Kazekage anyway. Besides, a turn at watch gave him something to do. He had found early on that laying in a bed pretending to sleep got boring very quickly.

He scanned the camp and saw that everyone was sleeping peacefully. Hearing a noise below him, he decided that some were sleeping a little too peacefully. His brother was beneath him, mouth agape. Gaara rolled his eyes slightly. Kankuro was famous among his fellow Suna Jounin for his snoring. Gaara booted him in the shoulder with his dangling foot, causing him to roll over. The noise stopped.

He still didn't quite know what to think about his sister sleeping with her head resting on Nara's shoulder, but he was learning to accept it. He was slowly coming to terms with the fact that the shadow master was a good man and respected Temari just as much as her brothers felt she deserved. So he wasn't trying to cause him bodily harm every time he saw them together, much to the disappointment of his brother and Naruto, who seemed to take great entertainment out of the situation.

He looked over the rest of this group that had accepted he and his sibs as one of them. When younger, he had only ever seen them as either opponents, or as Naruto's fellow nin. He'd really only had dealings with Naruto on a regular basis, and saw Rock Lee as a sort of friend, mainly because it was impossible not to like someone who was so ridiculously friendly to you even though you had once tried to kill him. But through Kankuro's friendship with the Inuzuka and Temari's relationship with Shikamaru, he had started to get closer to the rest of them, and saw them as not just allies, but as friends.

As his gaze shifted over to another huddle of humanity, eyes shone back at him from some deep shadows. It would seem that he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep.

He rose and made his way silently across the clearing and settled back down next to the man he considered his best friend. Naruto had his back up against a large tree with low hanging, sheltering branches. Sakura was tucked up against his side, her head resting against his chest.

"Can't sleep?" Gaara asked quietly, so as not to disturb those around him.

"Nope. Too keyed up, I guess. I need to ask you. How did you feel? What did you do when it sunk in that Shukaku was gone?"

"Well, my transition was a little more troublesome, to quote my sister's…boyfriend. I wasn't feeling much of anything at first."

Naruto chuckled gently, trying not to wake Sakura. "And people say you have no sense of humor. Yes, I know that. What I meant was later. Were you happy?"

Gaara cocked his head and studied his friend. "Few people can tell when I'm happy, even myself. Are you saying that you are not?"

"Of course I'm happy. It's just a big change, that's all. It's great, but a little scary. I don't know if people are going to treat me differently now. Maybe people will respect and like me more. Or they'll think I'm not as strong now, and I'll lose what respect I have. I just don't know."

Gaara gave what passed for a smile for him. According to his brother, it was something he still needed to work on. "You just answered your question for me, my friend. I felt all that, along with a certain amount of relief. My job was much easier afterward."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Easier?"

"Yes. It's so much easier to lead and protect people when a loud, insistent voice in your head isn't telling you to kill them all the time. As you never had that problem to begin with, I feel very little will change for you. It hasn't changed the man you are, as my experience did little to change me, much to my siblings dismay. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just live and enjoy it. As I have learned to, in my own way."

Naruto smiled as Gaara reached over, gripped his shoulder briefly, then moved back to his original spot to resume his watch.

"He's right, you know."

Naruto looked down to see Sakura's eyes glittering up at him in the dim light. "Right about what?"

"That this hasn't changed who you are at all. I think it would take a lot more to change you. " She grinned mischievously." I've been trying to change some things about you for the past couple of years, and look how well that's gone. "

She giggled as his fingers found the ticklish spot on her ribs. She tried to pull away, but he was merciless. He only stopped when she could barely breath. "Cheat," she huffed. "Now, tell me what else happened while you were in your head that made it take so long."

Naruto shook his head and kissed her softly on the forehead. "I can't get anything past you, can I? Remember when I told you that I saw my father during my battle with Nagato."

Sakura nodded.

" Come to find out, the sneak put another seal in the mix that nobody knew about. One that would activate when the Kyuubi's consciousness was gone."

Sakura's eyes widened and her arms tightened around him. "You got to see him again?"

"Yeah. He explained things to me." Naruto lowered his head, and Sakura saw that his eyes were wet." He told me he was proud of me. And I finally got to tell him that I didn't blame him. You know what? He saw some of the stuff that happened to me from in there." He grinned wryly." So I guess my dad was at our wedding after all."

"Oh, Naruto, I'm so glad. I'm sure he was happy."

"It gets better. Now that the Kyuubi is no longer a threat, it means that Dad's free as well. He's gone to be with Mom finally. And Jiraiya, and the old man."

Sakura reached up and cupped his chin in her hand. "You'll see them again. The ones we love are never gone forever. But," and she gripped his chin tightly and pulled his head down so his eyes met hers." It better not be anytime soon, got it?"

He laughed. "Got it." He started to raise his head, but the grip on his chin never loosened. She pushed herself up and kneeled next to him, her face inches from his. "Sakura?"

She was studying his face, her eyes squinting in the low light. Finally she sat back and shook her head. "I can't wait until we get home and you look in a mirror."

"What? Why?"

"I think the Kyuubi figured that if he was going to go, he was going to leave you with something to remember him by."

Naruto was more than a little alarmed. "What did the damn furball do?"

"Your eyes. The pupils are more slit than usual." Naruto's pupils had always been slightly vertical, but you had to know what you were looking for to see it. It was one of his jinchuuriki traits, like his whisker marks and his larger than average canine teeth. But now they were noticeably fox-like. Sakura had to admit it was sort of striking. She had only seen his eyes like that when they were an enraged red, not the mild blue gaze he was giving her now. She ran her fingers across his cheeks, ignoring the twitching the action caused. His whiskers were a bit darker. "Smile. Yup, your teeth are longer," she observed when he complied.

"Great. Just great. And I don't have anyone I can yell at about it anymore. I'm stuck with it." He was trying to sound nonchalant about it, but Sakura could tell he was more disturbed about it than he was letting on. He hated to have the fact that he was different from most people rubbed in his face. She quickly tried to reassure him.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. The changes are very slight. If you needed to, you could hide them with a low level genjutsu that even you could do. And it's not like you have to hide it around us. Most of the group probably hasn't even noticed yet. And besides," she grinned. "I think it looks pretty attractive."

"You're biased."

She laughed. "Yep."

He looked thoughtful. "Makes me wonder what else will be different. Like my healing. I always thought my healing ability was due to the fox trying to save his own ass. Now that's not a factor anymore."

Sakura tried not to look worried for his sake. She hadn't thought of that. Naruto's style of up close and personal fighting only worked for someone who was either very fast or very tough. Luckily he was both, but he rarely came out of a major fight unscathed. Though she was usually there to take care of any wounds he picked up, his fast healing had always given her some peace of mind. If that had been affected, he was going to have to start practicing some restraint.

"_Yeah, right. When Shishou wins the lottery. Wait. On second thought, maybe not. Every time that happens, something bad is happening."_

She shifted her attention back to him, as he was still talking. Rambling more like it, as he usually did when he was exhausted. She laid her head back down against his chest and let the soothing sound of his voice and his heartbeat still the thoughts in her head. Soon she noticed his words were becoming more sporadic and his head was nodding. A chill breeze blew gently through the trees, and Sakura shivered. Without even opening his eyes, Naruto pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his haori around her, then his arms. Surrounded by his warmth, and under the watchful eyes of Gaara, she slept.

* * *

Two days of hard traveling had brought them to the Shirotora River. A few times they had been forced into some pretty serious vertical rock climbing. The crumbly granite of these mountains made it impossible to run up them with chakra. When they tried, it had looked like someone had let an academy class loose in the mountains, they spent more time on their butts than on their feet. But at least there had been no other incidents of any kind, rogue ninja or otherwise, so despite all of them looking like they had been drug over fresh gravel, they were in pretty good shape.

They made camp that night in a place less than an hour away from the cave. Ration bars were broken out and they munched while studying the map, deciding on their best course of action. Still not risking a fire, a small Rasengan served for illumination, it's light basking the faces around the map in a soft blue glow.

"Well, there's no way we could approach from the river. It's way too open," Shikamaru said, smoothing out some wrinkles in the parchment. "The hillsides behind it and across from it are heavily wooded, however. No one should see us coming, especially if were just talking about priests here and not shinobi. But here's the question. If we get there and there's someone home, do we want to fight them outside, or bring the cave down with them in it and kill two brids with one stone?"

They all looked at Naruto, his hands cupped around the swirling blue sphere so the light wouldn't carry, face deep in thought. Finally, he shook his head. "As tempting as that sounds, their deaths should be quick. Trapped, dying slowly of starvation and thirst, no one deserves that. No, we'll drive the rats from their hole before we destroy it."

"Then the cats will get to play," crowed Kankuro, who then started to crack up at the offended looks he got from Kiba and Akamaru.

* * *

Dawn saw them hidden in the trees above their target. They had approached slowly, working their way down into the river valley that had been described to them. It was a very still morning, with no breath of wind at all. Shikamaru had been seriously hoping that the site would be deserted, but unfortunately even he could hear the muted voices coming from within the cave. Even at the high altitude, due to the river the sheltered valley was very moist, almost rainforest like. Deep moss muffled every move they made, and thick clumps of fern and bramble covered the hillsides. The mist rising from the river only added to the spooky ambiance.

Now that he was here and was seeing features not shown on their map, he was getting a better idea on how to handle this. The cave itself was a huge fissure in the hillside, carved out by a tributary of the river over thousands of years. The cave mouth was protected slightly by a mound of rubble, possibly from a rockslide, that formed a wall about forty feet out from the mouth and was about ten feet tall. Whatever had happened had happened a long time ago because vegetation had grown thickly over the pile. At first, Shikamaru was wary of the feature, because it hadn't been in either Naruto's or Ino's descriptions of the place. He had thought it quite possible that it was some sort of defense employed by Akatsuki. The two blonds were quick to reassure him ,though. Naruto had been focusing on bigger landmarks, like the surrounding mountains. As Ino studied the distances between the river and the cave, she laughed and realized that she hadn't seen it because she had been standing on it while in Naruto's memory. She too had been looking at the mountains and had never looked down.

The talk the night before about cave-ins had given him an idea. Instead of collapsing the cave, they would just make those within think it was coming down. Shikamaru examined the ground that made up the top of the ridge. A naturally made cave like this should have some fissures and imperfections in the base rock that made up the ceiling where water trickled down, and sure enough, there were. A few well placed exploding tags would be all they needed. He and Tenten quickly got to work seeding the deepest cracks each with several tags.

It wouldn't be enough to bring the cave down, but it would shake things up in there enough to dislodge some rocks from the ceiling and hopefully freak the occupants out enough that they would come running out right into the waiting arms of those hidden below. It was a pretty simple plan, and not one that would work on most shinobi, but more than likely they were just dealing with civilians here. The priests may be their current pains in the ass, but they shouldn't be much of a challenge.

Shikamaru directed the team to split up. Naruto, Sakura, Neji, Choji, Shino, and Temari would move into position on one side of the cave mouth and wait. Sasuke, Lee, Kiba, Kankuro, Ino and Hinata would go to the other side. Gaara positioned himself off to the side, waiting to block the entrance behind the priests with his sand so they couldn't retreat. He watched as the two teams made their slow, silent ways until they were in position, hidden well behind the clumps of thick ferns that grew on the rocky hillside. In a moment, you would never know there was twelve people down there. He raised his hand and counted down from ten in his mind. At ten, he and Tenten would trigger the tags and run like hell.

Shikamaru had just reached four when something happened to could bring even this simple plan to a screeching halt. From out of the cave a high pitched wail sounded. The agonized scream of a child in pain.

A sudden surge of chakra from below made Shikamaru curse as a blond head suddenly popped up from behind a moss covered rock.

"Shit." It was the only word he could think of to sum up the situation.

* * *

Naruto'd had a bad feeling about this place ever since they had arrived. He chalked it up to the miasma of demon chakra that rolled out of the cave in clouds, right into their faces. It was so thick in the air, his first impulse was to bat it away from his face like smoke from a campfire. He was trying to keep up a appearance of calm for the sake of his team, but the hair on the back of his neck was standing up and goosebumps were raised on his arms. Seven jinchuuriki had died in the grasp of the evil thing that lay in that cave. He didn't even know most of their names. How easily he could have been one of them. He had the feeling he would have already lost it if the Kyuubi had still had any kind of control over him. He fidgeted uncomfortably, bumping into Sakura as he did. He felt her eyes on him, and smiled at her reassuringly. As uncomfortable as he was, it was nothing he couldn't handle. For the time being.

Until the scream. It was a long, drawn out sound, full of pain and despair. If Naruto knew anything, it was this. No child should make a sound like that.

As the sound echoed out of the cave mouth, he stiffened. Fury rose up in him, and he did nothing to quell it. "Son of a bitch," he growled. His body started to move on it's own volition, and he stood up, all pretences at stealth forgotten. He was prepared to storm in there and rescue the nameless child that was being hurt. That is, until he was brought up short by a firm grip on the hem of his haori. He looked through his rage clouded vision into a pair of jade green eyes. The eyes held him and wouldn't let him go. They too were filled with anger, but controlled, channeled anger.

With something else to focus on, he brought his mind back to the here and now. He blinked a few times, his field of vision expanding. Looking around, he found Sakura and everyone was watching him closely. He realized that all this had occurred in a matter of seconds. He gave his wife a wordless thanks, and nodded to the rest of his team. Looking up, he caught Shikamaru's eye. He was leaning over the rim of the cave, watching the happenings below with an extremely concerned air. Naruto nodded curtly at him. _Lets do this._

Shikamaru nodded back and disappeared over the ridge. Naruto settled back down into hiding, still taking deep breaths to calm himself down. Some of the team nearest him were still giving him interesting looks. He had to imagine they were still getting used to the way he looked now. At one point the day before, he had caught a glimpse of himself in a clear pool. He had to admit, it was startling at first seeing a pair of feral blue eyes look back at him. As his face had gotten leaner as he got older, his whiskers had become less noticeable. Now they were etched deeper into his skin and stood out once again. He had grinned, bearing inch long canines that came to wicked points. Sakura was right though. The changes were so slight that a simple henge would hide them. So simple that with his chakra reserves, he could pretty much keep it up indefinitely if he wanted to. Or at least until people got used to him looking like this. If they did. He shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking about this. Shikamaru and Tenten appeared next to him. A moment later, he could feel the deep concussion in the ground as the first of the tags started going off.

Now, it could be said of the twelve of them, that when all hell breaks loose in their vicinity, it does so with considerable style.

As the series of tags went off, several large boulders that had evidently been precariously perched on an outcropping further up the slope came loose and bounced down, knocking others loose on their way. The whole mess came crashing down the mountainside and hit the valley floor nearby. The noise was deafening. The sound echoed and reverberated up and down the valley-

-and alerted the squad of Iwa nin who had been camped just upriver.

Within seconds, they had a lot more to deal with than they had been expecting. Several priests stumbled out of the cave coughing just as ten shinobi appeared on the riverbed. The Konoha team whirled to face the immediate threat. Seeing the fight that was about to begin, the priests immediately did an about face and dashed back into the cave before Naruto or any of the rest of them could do anything about it. Gaara had focused his attention on the more dangerous opponents, and had let them go. Three of the Iwa nin broke off and began to work on something while their fellows instantly began to attack.

Naruto fended off a brace of kunai with his sword and glanced over at Shikamaru doing the same next to him, only with thin tendrils of shadow. "Damnit! Well, Plan A went to hell. I don't suppose we have a Plan B, do we?"

"I'm officially making it up as I go now. Not much has changed, though. It's just become more complicated. You still need to get into that cave. The rest of us will take care of the-. Hey, what are those guys up to?"

Naruto focused on where Shikamaru was looking. The three Jounin that had not joined the rest in the attack were standing in a triangular formation, their hands flashing through some complicated signs. Naruto didn't recognize what they were working on, and next to him, Shika's perplexed look said that he had no idea either. "I don't know, but whatever it is, it can't be good."

As if in response to that thought, a rumble toward the cave made them turn around. The earth and rocks were starting to stir and rise before the entrance. In defiance of gravity, a huge, roughly human form emerged from the ground and stood up. It was at least thirty feet tall. The golem turned it's lumpy, misshapen head and seemed to look at them for a moment before it took two long strides and took a stance directly before the mouth of the cave.

"Oh," Shika said. "That's what they're doing."

Naruto grinned, baring his new fangs. Now this was a challenge. "This doesn't change anything. Sakura, Tenten, and I can handle this. The rest of you keep the enemy busy. Try to get the three who built that thing in case they have enough chakra left to make another one."

Shikamaru shook his head. "I don't know what you have planned to handle that thing, but it's sure to be interesting. We'll be able to take care of the Iwa nins. It looks like only about six of them are Jounin, the rest are high Chuunin level."

"Good. I might need some time to study the seals on the statue to figure just what to do with the thing. Sakura, Tenten, you're with me."

Various attacks and jutsus began to make themselves felt as the two side met. Naruto and the two kunoichi scrambled over the pile of scree and began to trot toward the cave's massive defender. The trot turned to a sprint as they neared the golem. The two behind him followed unquestionably, trusting him to tell them what he had planned. "Tenten, target the legs! Weaken them!" The weapons mistress nodded and unrolled her thick scroll. Naruto put on a burst of speed and ran ahead of Sakura, then, only about a dozen yards from the golem's feet, he dug his feet in and skidded to a stop directly in Sakura's path. He crouched down one knee with his hands braced on the ground and turned his head to catch his wife's eye. He could see a moment of instant understanding flash across her face. It was a move they had talked about, but never practiced. Well, now was a good a time as any.

Naruto waited until he felt Sakura's foot land squarely on his shoulder. As soon as he felt her full weight, he thrust upward with his legs, putting all the power he could in the motion. The action launched her into the air, straight at the golem's head. As soon as he weight was gone, he was in motion again, continuing his sprint to the cave. He glanced up just in time to see Sakura's blue glowing fist impact the center of the rough face, sending cracks down the length of the massive body. That, combined with Tenten's attacks chipping away at its legs, caused the construct to lose its balance and come crashing down.

Just as Naruto dashed between its legs and into the cave.

It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the dim light. Behind him he could hear the sounds of the stone construct crashing to earth and spared a thought for Sakura and Tenten. But only for a second. He knew the two kunoichi were too battle seasoned to get caught in the rubble. He instead focused ahead of him, as the narrow corridor that led from the entrance opened up into an immense cavern. Before him, on the far wall, was the King of Hell statue. It's upraised, shackled hands seemed to be framing its multiple, closed eyes.

"Whoa, that's ugly." Was his first thought.

His second thought was slightly less coherent as movement at the base caught his eye. Several figures were holding down a much smaller form as more chanted almost frantically around them. The small form wailed in terror again as a priest brought his hand down across its face, and that was it. Naruto normally had a thing about killing civilians, but for these guys, he was willing to overlook it. He drew his sword and was in the middle of them and mowing them down before they even realized he was there. Some carried wicked looking spears, but soon found that wood was no match for a wind enhanced blade. Several robed men emerged from a side room, also carrying spears, and Naruto quickly made some clones to spread out and deal with them. The child lay in the middle of a circle of seals printed on the floor, and seemed stunned by that last blow. Naruto stood over the small body, shielding it from anything that came their way. A short time later, it was over.

As the smoke from his clones dispersed, he examined the child still lying at his feet. He could now see that it was a little girl, no more than six. She was so dirty, it was hard to tell at first. Her clothes were in tatters and her hair was a tangled mess of no discernable color. He crouched down and lay a gentle hand on her head. Suddenly he found himself looking into a pair of wide hazel eyes as the girl woke. She looked up at him and started scooting away across the floor, whimpering.

"Easy, easy. I'm not going to hurt you. Look, see, I'm not dressed like those other guys, am I?" He gave her a wide, comforting grin. She stopped and looked around at the carnage around them without twitching, then met his eyes again. It was said that when a child had seen something so traumatizing that anything thereafter had no effect on them, they had "sky-eyes", when you looked into them all you could see was the sky reflected in them, that their spark had gone. This little girl had such a hopeless and empty look in her eyes that it broke his heart. He knew there was a battle outside that he really needed to get back to, but this was important too. He slowly lowered himself until he was sitting on the stone floor next to her.

"My name is Naruto. What's yours?"

The little girl just stared at him for a long time, and he was becoming afraid that her mind had snapped permanently, when a quiet whisper escaped from her lips.

He cocked his head exaggeratedly. "Sorry, didn't quite catch that."

"Suki."

He smiled. "Suki? Pretty name. Well, I'm here to take you home, ok. Do you know where home is?"

A small shake of the head.

"No? How about your parents? I'll bet they're looking for you."

"I don't have any."

Ah, an orphan. It explained why the priests had chosen her. He gently reached over and gathered her up in his arms. She stiffened up at first, then slowly relaxed and wrapped skinny arms around his neck. His heart melted.

"Then how about you come with me and we figure out what were going to do. Would you like to come with me?"

She nodded shyly.

"Good, it's settled then." He got up slowly, so she could get used to his height. His anger flared again briefly when he realized that Suki weighed almost nothing. This little girl had missed some meals. He felt a dim satisfaction that he rarely felt after he killed. All he wanted to do was get her out of this cave.

He reached the mouth of the cave to find a rather one sided battle still going on. The Iwa nins were beat, they just didn't want to admit it yet. Only five were left, and they were running on fumes. Naruto looked around to see who was near. Seeing the very person he wanted, he called to her. "Sakura!"

Sakura heard him and raced over. "Naruto! Are you-?"

"I'm fine. Sakura, meet Suki. Suki, this is my wife, Sakura. She's going to take care of you, ok?"

The little girl solemnly gazed at Sakura, then seemed to come to a decision and reached her arms out to her. Sakura gathered the skinny, dirty, child to her and looked at Naruto with rage shining in her eyes. "I hope you took care of them."

"They won't hurt anyone anymore. Watch her for a moment. I need to stop this." He shushuned to the highest point of area, which just happened to be the pile of rubble that had made up the stone golem. He whistled, getting his peoples attention. They all stopped, some mid-jutsu. The five Iwa nin focused on him. "The priests are dead! You have nothing to guard anymore! Stop fighting, and we will let you go. There's been enough killing today. But if you continue, we will have no choice but to finish you off. You don't stand a chance against us."

The survivors began to mutter to each other. Naruto caught snippets of what they were saying. The words "Kyuubi Jinchuuriki" and "Yellow Flash" were spoken a lot.

Finally, one of the older Jounin left looked up at him. " If the priests are dead, there really isn't any point to us sticking around. It's not like we know how to use that damn creepy statue. You're welcome to it as far as I'm concerned. Been in this cursed place far too long." He gave Naruto an ironic salute. He draped the arm of one of his injured comrades over his shoulder and started toward the west and the Land of Earth. The rest of his group followed.

"Naruto! You're just going to let them go?" Kiba yelled.

"Kiba, they're just doing their job, like we all do. Now that they don't have to do it anymore, they have no reason to fight us, and we don't have a reason to fight them. It's the honorable thing to do."

"Naruto is correct," said Gaara, as his sand returned to its gourd. And that was that. Kiba sighed, but didn't press the issue further. As Naruto scanned his friends, he saw that they had gotten off pretty light. The opposition had put up a good fight, but in the end just couldn't hold out against the amount of talent present.

Shikamaru joined him as he walked back toward the cave. Everyone else began the process of winding down and recovering from a battle. They entered and stared at the waiting statue. Shikamaru whistled. "Man, is that thing ugly."

"That was my first thought too." Naruto walked forward and leapt onto a finger. Shikamaru landed on another. "Just think, we're standing right where Akatsuki used to stand."

"That's a pleasant thought. So how do we destroy it?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head absently while he studied the construct. "You know, I don't think we can."

"What? Why? Oh, wait. If we just blow it up or something, we would probably just be letting the bijuu go."

"Yup. I don't know how bad that would be for us. I mean, they could just go back to doing what demons do and leave people alone like they used to. On the other hand, they're probably not too happy with humans at the moment. And who's to say that they wouldn't be captured later and sealed into people again?"

Naruto sat down and began to study the cave and the statue. At this vantage, he could easily see the patterns the seals carved into the ground formed. They were incredibly complex, and stretched his knowledge of seals to the limit. He did notice one pattern though. The writing formed lines that radiated out from a central point, like the spokes of a wheel. At the end of each line was a place. He recognized some of them, most he had no clue. One he did recognize was Ame. Another said River.

"Hey Shika, " Naruto called over to his friend. "Look at this pattern. See how each line of script ends in an actual place?"

Shikamaru's brow furrowed in thought. "Yeah, I see it. Like Ame, right? And River. River Country?"

The same light bulb went on in their heads at the same time. "This tells the statue where to go when it's summoned. To Akatsuki's base in Ame, and the cave where Gaara was taken in River Country. I don't recognize these others, though."

"They don't matter right now. But I have the perfect idea. Watch."

Naruto sprang lightly to the floor and walked around the seal. He stopped beside a empty space between two "addresses". Shikamaru began to get the idea when Naruto drew his sword and cut a neat line down the palm of his hand. With swift, sure marks, he began to write a new address.

"Naruto, there's no way it can be that simple. It took every member of Akatsuki to move this thing. Their combined chakra."

Naruto stopped before finishing the line and looked up at Shikamaru cheekily. "Shika, what did I tell you before about scale? And besides, I think this was designed for one person. Akatsuki was always scattered across the continent. I think only Nagato summoned it from place to place."

Naruto was finishing up the script, and Shikamaru could see the sigil for Konoha at the end. "Shika, you might want to get down from there. It probably wouldn't be a very pleasant trip."

Shikamaru cursed and dropped down beside Naruto. The blond straightened and began to gather his chakra. His hands blurred as he performed the hand seals drafted on the ground. At the last one, he focused his chakra and slammed his bloodstained hand on to the Konoha symbol. The whole summoning seal lit up for a brief second before, with a loud grating noise, the statue began to sink into the stone floor of the cave. In less time that he thought it would take, the statue disappeared.

"See, " Naruto said. "That really didn't take that much power." He looked at Shikamaru, who was staring incredulously at him. "What?"

Whatever Shikamaru was going to say was interrupted by the rest of the team running into the cave, alerted by Naruto's chakra spike. Sakura still had Suki clinging to her as she ran up to her husband. "Naruto, what happened?"

"I've got a better question, " said Kankuro, looking around. "Where the hell's the statue?"

Naruto grinned. "Let's just say that the Hokage Monument just got an interesting addition."

Everyone looked at him with various expressions of disbelief. "The monument?" Sasuke asked, smirking.

"Well, inside it. I sent it to one of the large rooms we use to evacuate people to in case of an attack. At least that's where I told it to go. I guess we'll have to wait and see if it listened to me. Man, Baa-chan's going to be pissed if it ended up somewhere else."

Hinata laughed weakly. "As long as it isn't in her office." That got a laugh out of everyone.

Naruto was howling at the image.

* * *

They gathered in front of the cave as the sun began to set. It had been a hard several days, and the team was looking foreword to a rest before starting on the long trip home. They had one last thing to do first. They had to bring down the cave that had contained so much evil.

Naruto stood once again on the pile of vaguely human shaped rubble before the mouth. His change to sage mode was the easiest he ever remembered, and he wondered if the Kyuubi had been making that more difficult for him. He quickly formed a massive rasenshuriken, again with surprising ease. It grew bigger as he tapped the now pure, untainted well of his chakra. He now realized how much the Kyuubi had actually limited him. He hadn't dared use this much chakra before, for as his own ran low, the fox would fill him up with his own. He had always unconsciously fought this, and one could never fully use power that one did not trust. But now, for the first time, he trusted himself completely.

He let the massive wind attack go and stood appreciating the symbolism as he, Konoha's jinchuuriki, watched the destruction of the place where so mane like him had died. As the dust settled on the now sealed cave mouth, Sakura climbed up next to him and took his hand. He turned to her and leaned over to kiss the top of her head. He thought of everything that had happened to him lately, from the disastrous vacation that had served to bring he and the one he loved closer together, to their wedding, to the coming to terms with his identity, his freedom, and now this. It had been a hell of a year.

He turned to his waiting friends. "Come on guys, let's go home."

He couldn't wait to see what next year would hold. But, as always, they would see it through. Together.

* * *

1 Year later

"Since when are we back to doing D-ranked missions?' Kiba groused as he and Naruto passed through the gates to the Uchiha compound. "I mean, we should be insulted, right?"

Naruto glanced over at him quizzically. "Dude, that was an A-rank we just did. Weren't you paying attention when we were assigned it?"

Kiba snorted, a noise eerily echoed by his canine partner who was padding beside him. "Well, it sure felt like a D."

Naruto had to agree with that. His team had been assigned a simple escort mission, which had turned out to be…a simple escort mission. It had been the terrain they were passing through that had made it A-rank. Going over the highest mountain chain on the continent. After the events of the previous year, climbing mountains was none of theirs favorite thing in the world. Otherwise nothing at all had happened. The client had been a very quiet, bookish man who had maybe said five words to them the entire week.

They had all been going crazy with boredom within the first day. He had spent more time baby sitting his antsy team than actually guarding the client.

He couldn't wait to get home. At least Sakura always managed to make life interesting. There just didn't seem to be much going on in the world lately. Iwa was still cowed from their defeat the year before. The King of Hell statue, along with its precious contents, was safe in its home inside the monument. The room was kept under guard, and had so many defensive seals around it that anyone foolish enough to sneak in there would very quickly find himself incapacitated and in ANBU custody. It was funny. He had thought that having the thing so close would drive him crazy, but he was actually happy having it where he could keep an eye on it.

Even Suki's story had had a happy ending. On arriving back to Konoha, Kurenai had taken the little girl in until another home could be found, and it had turned into a permanent arrangement when she had fallen in love with the child. Takara had been thrilled to have a big sister. Shikamaru had taken up smoking again when he found out he had two would be kunoichi to train now.

The two friends reached the point where they would part ways, Naruto to his house and Kiba to his apartment. Well, it wouldn't be his apartment for very long as he and Hinata were getting ready to move into a house together. "You better read over the next mission and make sure it's exciting, captain." Kiba called over his shoulder.

"No problem. How are you at chasing cats these days? Hear the Daimyo's wife got a new one." Kiba flipped him off and kept walking.

Naruto chuckled and climbed the steps to his porch. He had slid the door open and was just starting to kick his sandals off, when a loud screech rang through the house. He tensed, sliding into attack mode instantly. He tore across the living room and was almost through the doorway, tanto halfway out of its sheath, when he suddenly skidded to a halt at the sight in front of him.

Sakura was bouncing back and forth across the kitchen, whooping excitedly. She was paying absolutely no attention to him standing wild eyed and panting in the doorway. He was wondering when exactly his wife had gone insane when she suddenly launched herself at him, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him enthusiastically. Sakura let go, looked at him with a huge smile, and continued her bouncing, this time down the hall toward the bedroom.

Naruto stood there for a moment, letting his brain catch up with current events and hoping it would let the rest of him in on what was going on when it did, when something caught his eye. A piece of somewhat official looking paper was sitting on the counter nearby. He picked it up and read it quickly. Then he read it again, more slowly. And a third time, just to make sure. His face remained blank for about thirty seconds more before a huge grin spread across it. He whooped loudly and sped into the bedroom, where joyous laughter and giggles soon emanated.

The paper, forgotten in the excitement, fluttered to the floor. On it, below the letterhead of the Konoha hospital was the following:

SUBJECT: Uzumaki, Sakura

RANK: Jounin

REASON FOR VISIT: Pregnancy test

RESULTS: Positive

* * *

**Oh my god! That was a long road, but now it is over. Thanks to everyone who stuck with me on this. You all deserve some cookies.**

**What follows can be found in my one-shot "This Woman's Work". My next story in this series will start up about three years after that. The first chapter is actually mostly written, but I haven't settled on a title quite yet. So, thanks again, and I hope to hear from you all when I release it. **


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